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NY Diabetics May Soon Get Uninvited Doc's Call


nivek

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"MOLON LABE"

 

"It's fo pubblik helf!"

 

Sheeeeiiiit...

 

kL

 

 

 

http://wcbstv.com/local/local_story_348154052.html

 

Dec 14, 2005 2:38 pm US/Eastern

 

NY Diabetics May Soon Get Uninvited Doc's Call

 

 

 

(AP) NEW YORK New Yorkers with diabetes who aren't taking care of

themselves may get an unexpected call from a doctor prodding

them to pay attention.

 

That's the result of a regulatory change announced today that will

allow the city to track thousands of people with diabetes.

 

New York is now becomes the first American city to monitor diabetes

in the same way health departments commonly track people with HIV or

tuberculosis.

 

The change potentially raises some privacy concerns, by collecting

information about people who have a chronic disease that isn't

contagious or caused by a toxin.

 

New York's health commissioner, Doctor Thomas Frieden, says the

program's potential to save thousands of lives outweighs what it

gives up in medical privacy. He says the city will take the utmost

care to keep people's information protected.

 

Most New York medical labs will be required to electronically forward

the results of blood-sugar tests to the city's health department,

which will then crunch the data to identify people having trouble

controlling their diabetes.

 

Some patients might then get letters or phone calls from their

doctors, urging them to take medication, come in more frequently for

checkups, or change their diet.

 

Diabetes is the fourth-leading cause of death in the city.

 

Frieden says people skittish about their privacy will be allowed to

opt out of the program.

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I have mixed feelings about this one. Privacy issuse it sure is, but we took care of a patient at the hospital I did my clinicals at that had diabetes. She was 58 and in for amputation of both legs. Her toes were completely black, and the color turned to a bruised blue color up to her knees. Not to mention she had pressure ulcers on her heels. It gets scarry enough to justify this sort of thing, as long as the information is used for nothing more than public health.

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"Frieden says people skittish about their privacy will be allowed to

opt out of the program."

 

They can opt out if they feel that their privacy from Dr's insisting they follow treatment is more important than the outcome of the disease.

 

Non-issue. Red-herring re: privacy.

 

"I made myself diabetic and want subsidised help and now they want to ensure I do what I'm told - my privacy is violated, Hep me !!"

 

Die.

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"Frieden says people skittish about their privacy will be allowed to

opt out of the program."

 

They can opt out if they feel that their privacy from Dr's insisting they follow treatment is more important than the outcome of the disease.

 

Non-issue. Red-herring re: privacy.

 

"I made myself diabetic and want subsidised help and now they want to ensure I do what I'm told - my privacy is violated, Hep me !!"

 

Die.

 

This isn't just for people who are getting state subsidized care. This is, theoretically for all diabetics living in New York. The thing that scares me is that the government isn't going to stop with diabetes. They're going to require it for more and more illnesses so that it'll make it easier to deny subsidized (or private) care (such as Medicare) if someone needs it in the future. Plus this is another way for private and public insurance companies keep their medical spending on patients down. They're also creating a way that'll make it harder to qualify for state health aid and basically punishing people who already get state healthcare for needing it in the first place.

 

What they're trying to say is, "We own you. As long as you want any services from us, you'll have to give up your privacy, dignity and jump through hoops for whatever little benefits we give you." You know, the same thing private insurance companies and employers who give medical benefits to workers do. Either way it goes, can nothing good come of this, no matter how honorable their intentions....Yeah, like we believe they truly have people's best interests. :Wendywhatever:

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This isn't just for people who are getting state subsidized care. This is, theoretically for all diabetics living in New York.

 

Ah, you're right. What I don't get is that they're tracking the results of a specific clinical blood test - A1c tests - the results of which should tell the patient whether they're properly dealing with their disease anyway. So the patients ALREADY know how they're doing. This new reporting program is to add a layer of oversite and clearly seems Big Brotherish. I can see it being a condition of getting insurance or medicare to pay for treating diabetes - much like how a car insurance company might require policy holders wear seatbelts, but then why would the public pay for something the insurance carrier might want ?

 

 

What they're trying to say is, "We own you. As long as you want any services from us, you'll have to give up your privacy, dignity and jump through hoops for whatever little benefits we give you."

 

Yup, that's the fine print in any government handout.

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