Australian Patient Records Exempt from Privacy Law

Information Management Journal, May/Jun 2005 by Swartz, Nikki

Australian doctors who suspect patients of "doctor hopping" for prescription medications will be able to see all patient medical records without patient consent. The new Prescription Shopping Information Service has been exempted from national privacy laws to crack down on patients visiting several doctors to gain access to multiple prescriptions for the same ailment.

The service is a response to research by the Health Insurance Commission, which discovered that more than 22,000 Australians were visiting at least 10 doctors annually to obtain prescriptions for painkillers and tranquilizers.

Australian Privacy Commissioner Karen Curtis said the service does not violate privacy law because the public interest in allowing doctors to check patients' records for multiple prescriptions outweighs patients' right to privacy.

"Privacy is not an absolute right," Nicola Ballenden, Australian Consumers Association health policy director, told The Australian. "It has to be balanced against other things. Someone might actually kill themselves by taking too many drugs, so there is some public safety rationale behind it."