Google has been collecting health data on millions of Americans

[RamblingMad]

Sounds good to me.

Lot of great medical advances happening with machine learning right now.

 

[Hikergirl]

Sounds good to me.

Lot of great medical advances happening with machine learning right now.

I have to agree with this aspect of it.
My dh had an issue a couple years ago and still no real disgnosis after seeing quite a few specialists. Who knows in a few years with these kind of advances he may actually know what is going on.
He’s been working on AI and at the time said it’s only a matter of time where this kind of thing would be happening. It has the potential to really help doctors and their patients in the future.

 

[DuskKodesh]

For clarification Not concerned and Not surprised are two entirely different things. Very little about Google does not concern me anymore. Plus, I just had to be the first one to use that gif. I'm on a Disney board, it's so fitting!

 

[longboard55]

We really need to do health care cheaper, that is the issue, and technology is the place to start. Doctors should have 100% accurate history at the touch of a button, the way , mortgage lenders have financial records. We waste so much money on duplicate entries and fraud.

You go to a doctor and there is on doctor, one nurse and 5 support staff filling out duplicate paper work

 

[Southernmiss]

A Friend and I were talking about the lack of privacy in our lives these days with the advent of technology yesterday. He just returned from a cruise and talked about the facial scanning and recognition that was done for security on the cruise.

I am one who really thinks everything I do is probably watched. Maybe I should be, but I am not alarmed.

There have been many advances in the way of healthcare since the advent of the internet. Patients now have so much info at their fingertips to assist them in asking the right questions and seeking the right treatments and professionals.

I have Hashimoto's thyroiditis. From age 10 I was treated with one small yellow pill and told that's the way it would be forever. That worked fine for several years until I hit 30 and had my 3rd child. My hormones went haywire and I needed something different than just that yellow pill. Doctors didn't know what to do with me and gave me antidepressants and arthritis meds. I knew those weren't my problem. Through my own research I've been able to figure things out and seek out the right kind of functional medicine practitioner. I have come to realize that i had a lot of symptoms all my life that were untreated because I thought that's just the way it is. After being able to research things on the internet, I have never felt better in my life. I wish I had all those years back with the knowledge that I now have. I would have felt so much better and lived so much a fuller life.

My 17 year old daughter now has systemic lupus. I was able to get her promptly diagnosed this spring after she suffered for 3 weeks with drastic symptoms until we could find the right practitioner and get treatment started. I doggedly researched and asked for tests and sought other care those three weeks while she lost 20 pounds in that time. Usually people suffer years before a diagnosis with damage to organs. So far, she has no organ damage. I hate to think the damage that could have been because we waited for medical answers like before the internet.

I am encouraged by the information shared on the internet between healthcare professionals and patients that are helping to make advances in so many areas. I hope that that only increases and more cures and relief explode on the scene because of technology shared.

I know another family with a child born in March who has a syndrome that is only found in about 20 other children around the world. One of her doctors is in Belgium.

None of these answers would have been possible just 20 years ago.

 

[kerry1379]

I agree that medical advances are usually wonderful and greatly appreciated. I have a son that wouldn't be alive if he had been born a decade or two earlier. But the thing I am questioning is WHY did Google need the identifiers to go with the data. They didn't and that is a HIPPA and huge personal privacy violation. Medical advances can come without connecting that data to an individual. And if it gets to the point where they do need to tie it to an individual-then they can ask permission-like everyone else in the medical field is required to do by law.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I actually don’t put a lot out there for this very reason, but there are things that I don’t control, like my medical info. Unless one chooses to literally go off the grid and never see a doctor or have health insurance then you don’t have a choice in what is out there or who is in control of it. In turn that means there will always be a risk of private info being exposed.

Exposed and collected are different though.

Data breaches happen, and to an extent there are ways of finding out if you dig really really hard. That said if I have to have a paper signed so my medical history can be shared with my husband or my mother or whatever it is a bit disingenious of a company to collect my information with identifying features.

It's not surprising but it is something I'm not entirely for. You don't really need to know my name, my exact date of birth (year would probably suffice maybe month but I feel like that's pushing it), and other things that would link back to me if it's in the name of patient care. What about knowing my name or exact date of birth is going to help out with patient care especially if I'm not even aware you have that information.

 

[Hikergirl]

Exposed and collected are different though.

Data breaches happen, and to an extent there are ways of finding out if you dig really really hard. That said if I have to have a paper signed so my medical history can be shared with my husband or my mother or whatever it is a bit disingenious of a company to collect my information with identifying features.

It's not surprising but it is something I'm not entirely for. You don't really need to know my name, my exact date of birth (year would probably suffice maybe month but I feel like that's pushing it), and other things that would link back to me if it's in the name of patient care. What about knowing my name or exact date of birth is going to help out with patient care especially if I'm not even aware you have that information.

Collection of data is big business therefore will always be vulnerable to exposure.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Collection of data is big business therefore will always be vulnerable to exposure.

I'm not sure you understood my point.

Collection of data isn't an issue..it's the specific type of data they are collecting without people's knowledge too. If the fact that I had blood work done on X date was exposed the end result isn't as big of a deal..except for the fact that the data can be traced directly to me in the name of patient care. What patient care are they trying to say they will be able to provide with specific data about a person that links back to a person. My name and exact date of birth are doing what for patient care for Google.

I can't help a data breach so I'm not concerned with that aspect.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Sounds good to me.

Lot of great medical advances happening with machine learning right now.

Like what? Can you expand on this?

 

[RamblingMad]

Like what? Can you expand on this?

Check out some of the contests at Kaggle. Right now, they’re using machine learning to more accurately read medical images. It’s impressive how quickly the field is evolving.

 

[Hikergirl]

I'm not sure you understood my point.

Collection of data isn't an issue..it's the specific type of data they are collecting without people's knowledge too. If the fact that I had blood work done on X date was exposed the end result isn't as big of a deal..except for the fact that the data can be traced directly to me in the name of patient care. What patient care are they trying to say they will be able to provide with specific data about a person that links back to a person. My name and exact date of birth are doing what for patient care for Google.

I can't help a data breach so I'm not concerned with that aspect.

I did read your post in my car and only responded to what you said about data collection and exposure are different,
I've already stated that I have no problem with this kind of data collection, I believe it will help patients in the future, both medically and financially.
You should be made aware of the collection, but at some point this will probably be the norm, these programs need the data to learn.

 

[RamblingMad]

I'm not sure you understood my point.

Collection of data isn't an issue..it's the specific type of data they are collecting without people's knowledge too. If the fact that I had blood work done on X date was exposed the end result isn't as big of a deal..except for the fact that the data can be traced directly to me in the name of patient care. What patient care are they trying to say they will be able to provide with specific data about a person that links back to a person. My name and exact date of birth are doing what for patient care for Google.

I can't help a data breach so I'm not concerned with that aspect.

The worse case scenario is that Google builds models based on its data that predict the likelihood of people getting certain illnesses. And then the insurance companies buy the model results and charge people more based on their likelihood of getting certain medical conditions.

Of course, for this to be profitable, you first have to kill off the preexisting condition insurance laws. Basically, if you support deregulation of healthcare insurance companies, you will be screwed in the future.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I did read your post in my car and only responded to what you said about data collection and exposure are different,
I've already stated that I have no problem with this kind of data collection, I believe it will help patients in the future, both medically and financially.
You should be made aware of the collection, but at some point this will probably be the norm, these programs need the data to learn.

I think we're talking about two different things so I'll just leave it at that.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

I think we're talking about two different things so I'll just leave it at that.

I agree with you, Mackenzie. This isn’t about improved benefits for patients. There are plenty of other venues to do that.

 

[Hikergirl]

I agree with you, Mackenzie. This isn’t about improved benefits for patients. There are plenty of other venues to do that.

Like what?

 

[Hikergirl]

I think we're talking about two different things so I'll just leave it at that.

Not really, I just see this project as something very positive in the way of what AI will be able to do for patients in the future. It starts with data collection, it has to learn.
I do agree that going behind patients back wasn't the right way to collect it, but the type of data, including age and geographical location is needed.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Not really, I just see this project as something very positive. You clearly don't.

You're speaking towards data collection in general and exposure and basically we all should know that's the case...something I don't disagree with. But that wasn't what my comments were speaking towards. So yes in that respects we're talking about two different things

 

[amcnj]

Should an individual’s data be their property and thus their permission needed for it to be used by anyone else? Or is that too restrictive?

 

[Hikergirl]

You're speaking towards data collection in general and exposure and basically we all should know that's the case...something I don't disagree with. But that wasn't what my comments were speaking towards. So yes in that respects we're talking about two different things

I edited my post after you quoted it.

Not really, I just see this project as something very positive in the way of what AI will be able to do for patients in the future. It starts with data collection, it has to learn.
I do agree that going behind patients back wasn't the right way to collect it, but the type of data, including age and geographical location is needed.