Abstract
Information technology(IT) has begun to pervade all aspects of daily life, including the medical field. With the increased efficiency comes the potential for adverse social effects. The advent of electronic medical charts raises a host of issues including loss of medical privacy. Especially for HIV/AIDS patients, ensuring the protection of personal information is a serious problem.
This paper introduces the Reggie system as a case study. Reggie is the personal information network system for San Francisco HIV/AIDS patients. Project Reggie started in 1995. At that time, many patients felt shame, anxiety, and annoyance at being placed into the system. Now, with the strengthening of legal privacy protections and the change in their social environment, ninety percent of HIV/AIDS patients in San Francisco have joined the Reggie system.
Reggie is the system for HIV/AIDS patients themselves, because they have total control over access to their personal information. They have their own secret codes that they can give out to anyone whom they choose to share their personal medical information with. No doctor can access the information without the code.
