Whenever something is marketed to us as convenient, efficient, incredibly safe and the government is involved you may want to become suspicious. Many provinces are starting to offer electronic health records that will have all your personal information embedded directly on a chip on your health care card. There however may be a problem with keeping it all confidential.

According to the MITRE corporation, the company that provides much of the research for the implementation of electronic health records: “The Electronic Health Record (EHR) is a longitudinal electronic record of patient health information generated by one or more encounters in any care delivery setting. Included in this information are patient demographics, progress notes, problems, medications, vital signs, past medical history, immunizations, laboratory data, and radiology reports. The EHR automates and streamlines the clinician's work flow. The EHR has the ability to generate a complete record of a clinical patient encounter, as well as supporting other care-related activities directly or indirectly via interface—including evidence-based decision support, quality management, and outcomes reporting”.

In theory, on the surface, all this may seem quite benign and may even look like a giant forward step. In the big picture however, the end of anything you want to keep confidential about your health has arrived.

In general, the information that various agencies, organizations, companies and governmental departments have on us is, to say the least, very concerning. Adding to the mix now is your personal health issues electronically waiting to get into the wrong hands does this just add another dimension to identity theft?

The one device that many probably are not aware of is the microchip that has already been approved for use in humans. A tiny computer chip approved in 2004 for implantation in a patient’s arm is already being used. Considering how easy it is to hack computers these days critics warn that it could open new ways to imperil the confidentiality of medical records.

An individual need not worry about whether or not someone finds out they had a wart on their foot when they were ten years old they should in fact be concerned that their children or grandchildren will bear the burden of an ultra controlled society and it starts out under the guise of protecting your health and efficient health care.

If you want to receive treatment, you will have to comply, however, practitioners that do not practice under the Medicare umbrella, will not be too concerned about your microchip or your information and will just want to deal with the problem at hand.

It is not my intention to alarm you with conspiracy theories and stories of big brother. It is my intention to let you know what is happening and has been happening for a while, and let you take precautions.

There are even some positive aspects to having your information all in one place in the case of emergencies but like anything else, there are also down sides. Information is just information until it gets into the wrong hands, and then it becomes a powerful weapon. In the right hands, it is a useful tool.