[LINK] Your Medicare records online

[Darryl (Dassa) Lynch]

link-bounces at mailman1.anu.edu.au wrote:
|| On 03/03/2010, at 10:26 PM, Darryl (Dassa) Lynch wrote:
|| 
||| The few times I've been in an emergency situation, past medical
||| history was not needed or used.
|| 
|| Lucky for you. That is not always the case, and depends
|| entirely on the circumstances and the individual.

Agree, if I was an individual who would benefit from having my records
freely available I'd make sure it happened.  I doubt if it is the case for
the majority, I'd be pleased if there is some data around this we could all
look at and evaluate.

|| Ultimately, if we adopted the UK system of opting into a
|| centralised health record system, I'd be first in the line
|| to have my records placed where medical staff can find it,
|| though I appreciate that some Linkers have reservations.
|| 
|| It would be good if it were a personal choice.

Personally, that is the biggest problem I have with a lot of these issues
and similar, the lack of choice and control.  Someone else makes the
decisions, claiming it is for the greater good but more often than not, it
proves to be a failure in the stated aims.  With what little self
responsibility and control we have eaten away and everyone reduced down to
the lowest common denominator.

It should be up to the individual if they wish to have the records available
or not, it is their risk to manage.  

If I thought the risk was worth the effort and benefits, I would make sure I
had my records available with me at all times.  I don't.  My decision.

Darryl (Dassa) Lynch 

PS... I have taken some steps to reduce risk in that I've notified certain
people of parts of my medical history/condition that may cause an issue in a
medical emergency.  Only the parts I was comfortable with disclosing and
which I deemed appropriate.