One comment I have to make here is the entire area of identity theft could not speak louder for the use of DNA and genomics in case of an emergency. If in doubt, get the DNA at the ER. Yes, there will be times when a medical records could show false information if it has been compromised and one could easily be given the wrong medication, but if a local genomics sequence were available, it might tend to shed a little light and offer some assistance that was not available before. In other words if one ended up in the ER room, and thought the medical records had been compromised, well let’s start with a DNA report as soon as possible to avoid shooting from the hip, something I think all ER room physicians could appreciate. Granted, this would not give any medication history and past procedures, but it would sure be better than a shot in the dark and if the patient was not comatose, a verbal recollection of medications would also help, and perhaps another good reason to keep a personal health record of your own.
An emergency visit to the ER is a time when identity theft could be disastrous. Most of the time as a patient, we are not aware of the theft until the bill collector calls and that is another problem and issue to deal with. BD
Identity theft in the health-care arena adds a layer of complexity because a thief can tap your medical information to get care or make false claims, potentially altering the course of your future treatments if you don't catch and reverse the damage, experts say. For example, a thief could have a different blood type or drug allergies than you do, and a doctor, nurse or hospital may not detect the mixed patient files before administering treatment based on the imposter's medical history instead of your own. Or victims may find they hit their insurance caps or become uninsurable or unemployable based on medical problems they never had.
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