For the Record

P D Clayton, W E Boebbert, G H DeFriese, S P Howell, M L Fennell, K A Frawley, J Glaser, R A Kemmerer, C E Landwehr, T C Rindfleisch, S A Ryan, B J Sams, P Szolovitz, R G Trussel, E Ward, P M Schwartz National Academy Press, £24.95, pp 264 ISBN 0 309 05697 7

Privacy and Health Research

William W Lowrance US Department of Health and Human Services, pp 80

The recent debate between the Department of Health and the BMA about medical privacy has not been a phenomenon local to Britain. Much the same issues exercise doctors, patients, administrators, and activists in several other countries, and two recent publications have been influential in driving policy in the United States.

For the Record was commissioned by the US National Research Council on the general topic of privacy and security in healthcare informatics. It was written by a committee of 15 people drawn from government, providers of healthcare information systems, …