Physicians and Patients Who "Friend" or "Tweet": Constructing a Legal Framework for Social Networking in a Highly Regulated Domain
Year: 2010
Type: article
Abstract: This Article focuses on one highly complex relationship, that of physician \nand patient. That relationship, together with the related imperative of protecting \npatient information, constitutes a crucial component of the legal domain \napplicable to our most highly regulated industry. Recent inquiries into the trust \nand confidence properties of the physician-patient relationship and the protection \nof patient data concentrated on the technical (diagnostic, pharmacy, etc.) data \nassociated with the care relationship. Thus, questions have been asked about the \nadequacy of protection for networked or interoperable electronic records. ' Such \ninquires have escalated as patients have been encouraged to leverage technology \nto store their own "personal" health records." This Article is less interested in \ntechnical medical data and more with social data that implicates health and health-related decision-making. Here, the inquiry is how our legal, ethical, and \nregulatory models will react as the social network phenomenon overlaps with \ntraditional healthcare relationships and businesses. \nThe analysis draws on the limited extant law dealing specifically with social \nnetwork interactions and the law and ethics literature dealing with existing \ncomputer-mediated interactions between physicians and patients. The legal \nanalysis principally is concerned with privacy and confidentiality constructs, \ndescribed below as the "Law of Boundaries." The Article explores how \nparticipation in online social networks may blur boundaries between personal and \nprofessional relationships or commentary, while making available "private" \ninformation in what only appears to be a secluded area. The Article also \nexamines the potential for amelioration of risks with the currently under-utilized \nprivacy and security settings provided by the online social networks.
Source: Indiana Law Review
DOI: 10.18060/4040
Author: Nicolas P. Terry
Institutions: Indiana University Bloomington, Indiana University
Language: English
Subfield: Law
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W155392367