Fair information practice

“ . . . giving control over personal medical information to the patient is impractical and that it is the needs of the medical care system that should be determining. In this view, most decisions about information flow, as well as choices regarding measure to protect patients from harms caused by information disclosure, should be made by health care providers, purchasers, and insurers. A policy of this type is generatlly based on what are termed ‘fair information practices’ rather than patient control” (Woodward, 339). Fair information practices are rules of the road for disclosure. . . . Limitation of access to ‘authorized viewers’ may be completely compatible with the elimination of privacy” (340).