Google To The Rescue?

So many cases in which I have been successful suing doctors have revolved around a lack of information; either the defendant physician didn't have it, didn't ask for it or didn't know he or she needed it. The importance of information gathering for proper patient care cannot be overemphasized. If a patient has a past history of diabetes, or recent surgery, or cancer, or stroke that information may be vital -- sometimes the difference between life and death -- to the physician treating the patient. This is one of the reasons that continuity of care is so important. If your physician knows about your health history by virtue of having been your doctor for many years, he or she will have a base of knowledge to use in diagnosing and treating future health issues. If you are seeing a doctor who doesn't know you, you and the physician, are at a disadvantage. So how can you keep your health and medical history well organized and closely at hand to share with those who may need it?

Google to the rescue.

Google Health allows you to keep all of your health care information, including prescription information and your medical records, in one central place. The advantages of this service are that you can share your health information with your doctor, and you can research your own health needs online guided by data contained in your medical records. Say, for example, your physician's office decides to no longer accept your insurance plan. You have to choose someone new. You would be able to quickly, and effectively transfer to the new doctor your entire medical history, including your prescription information. There is also significant value in being able to see your own records. A few years ago I represented a woman who was being screened by a new doctor to determine if the cancer that had been treated by a different doctor in a different city had returned. Test results indicated that it had. However, she never learned that because the new physician's office had communicated the results to her verbally, over the telephone, incorrectly. Had she been able to see the test results for herself she may have been able to take the initiative in getting additional treatment.

Google Health also allows participants to browse an online health services directory to research health issues. For example, a pregnant mom to be could research whether the drugs she is taking for depression are safe for her fetus. A person with hypertension could research drugs and their various side effects so as to have an informed discussion with a physician about treatment options.

This is empowering stuff. Google Health seems to be a tool that truly puts the patient in charge. There are, of course, potential and arguably significant downsides to this service. Whenever I have mentioned Google Health to a friend or colleague the first, inevitable response I get pertains to privacy concerns. Google is, after all, a giant corporation. Why, people have asked me, would I give the most personal details about myself to Google? For its part, Google swears on a stack of bibles that it will safeguard your privacy. But in the end you will need to ask yourself, "Do I trust Google?" Certainly, everyone will have to decide for themselves, but it seems to me that many if not most of us are already sharing this information with big corporations, insurance companies, hospitals, pharmacies and health care networks. Will they be more benevolent in the way they safeguard your data than Google would be? Also, ask yourself what exactly it is that you don't want Google to know or share. Sure you wouldn't want records forwarded to your mother documenting that nasty case of crabs you had, or to your employer that you've been treated for anxiety. But you have to balance the likelihood of something like that happening versus the value of being able to get vital information quickly and efficiently into the hands of a doctor who may need it to treat you.

Another downside of Google Health, at the moment, is that it is clearly in the chicken wire stage of development. Google has very few health care partners presently participating in this project. Notably, the large pharmacy chains CVS and Walgreens allow you to upload your prescription information to Google Health. However, very few doctors offices and hospitals have cooperated. The bottom line is that even were you to sign up tomorrow, you probably wouldn't be able to upload much. You could, of course, obtain paper medical records from your providers and scan them into your Google Health account, but that's a lot of work. I can't imagine many folks choosing to do that.

Notwithstanding the downsides, so far, Google Health sounds promising. Stay tuned.