October 8, 1999

The Right to Privacy in Medical Records

To the Editor:

In "Personal Privacy vs. Medical Progress" (September 17), you paint a picture that implies that safeguarding the public's personal privacy will interfere with medical progress, as if it were an either/or choice. Personal privacy and medical progress are both public goods. ...

In all of medicine, since the time of Hippocrates, quality care has required privacy of communication between the patient and the doctor. This is a public good that