1359
Get rid of them.
(lemmy.world)
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this post was submitted on 16 May 2024
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This.
I have a (well managed) chronic illness. I have to go to lots of doctors at different clinics. All of them are in the habit of just collecting all the information.
For example, as a patient, there's no benefit to me whatsoever of the doctor being aware of the day and month of my birth. That's just the start though, they have my medical concession id number, addresses, et cetera.
If you express any reluctance at all, you're made to feel like a pariah. Like a COVID denier or something. For example, there was one clinic I want sure I would continue with, so when I was asked to fill out my details I asked whether it was really necessary given that I might not come on board as a patient, the receptionist and doctor just couldn't understand why I might be reluctant.
Last time I saw my GP he asked whether he could record our conversation... "it's some AI thing we're trialling". OMFG. Why on earth would I want that? Why would anyone want that? I want my GP who is an actual person to listen to my circumstances and determine the best course of action.
Day and Month of Birth is a basic check to see if you are who you say you are, if you are refusing to give even basic details like that I can see why the medical staff who deal with you would give you confused/annoyed expressions
To be clear, I don't refuse to provide my Day and Month of Birth, simply because I don't want to be some kind of privacy pariah.
That said, while it may have been a reasonable point of ID in the 90s, I don't believe that remains the case in 2024.
The basic concept of Australian Privacy Legislation is that organisations ought to collect only that information which they require, and they should disclose the reason why they are collecting that data.
If the only reason to collect ones Day and Month of birth is so I can repeat it back and confirm it later then that seems very pointless to me. There are other details which they do require which can be used to confirm my identity.
Which other identifiers would you feel comfortable confirming? Is there a reason you think DoB is dangerous to share?
DoB is considered sensitive personal information in the Australian Privacy Act.
Other identifiers might be street number or last three digits of phone number.
Interesting. Asking because I work in a hospital (in America tho) and making our patients more comfortable is better for everyone. We do serve a lot of homeless people tho, so for that we would probably still need to ask DoB since we need to verify two identifiers.
Firstly, I'm a weirdo and my preferences aren't indicative of "what makes people comfortable" generally.
Secondly, in some cases DoB is really just a code number. Over the last year I've started providing an incorrect DoB at new clinics I attend. It's never caused any problems. As long as I can provide the right code number when asked it has served its purpose.