Be Careful Out There

-
Time for another DMZ post. This one has to do with what you divulge about your health online. A conference here in San Diego touched on people who blog or comment on social networks about their illnesses. These web sites are not protected by health privacy laws, so the information can be used elsewhere – such as against you in court.

That’s what happened to one woman who sued her insurance company to pay for medical expenses related to an eating disorder. The insurer used her MySpace and Facebook postings to prove her illness was psychological, not medical, and therefore her treatment not reimbursable under her policy. Apparently even searches for specific illnesses can become a legal tool to show someone was aware of a preexisting condition (and I’ve discussed before that everything you’ve ever typed into a Google search engine is stored out there, just waiting for some subpoena).

The article mentions several new sites coming online to privately store health information, and the software makers swear by their encryption to keep data safe. However, this isolated approach diminishes the beneficial connections that come from talking to other sufferers coping with a similar disease or disorder. So, sadly, be careful what you write – and to whom – about serious health issues. You never know where your words might end up.

Popular posts from this blog

Never Is Too Late

-
Image
I was tempted to do a recap of the year just finished and a roundup of goals for this one. And, of course, I was going to post this around January 1. Then I thought: Why? Why not wait until, say, January 28?  Maybe by then I will be a little more confident in achieving what I set out to do. Maybe I’ll have already abandoned or adjusted practices that proved too flimsy to follow, too stubborn to shake. Then my list will be more reasonable, less reckless. You see, January 1, while providing an unspoiled calendar upon which to dream and plot and pretend to be in charge, is really just a date. Granted it’s a date many of us go through hungover (from too much drinking) or hungry (from starting a new diet) or hurting (from overdoing the new exercise program), but that discomfort soon fades as new habits gain hold or old ones return.   Still, I think runners in particular are encoded to prepare well in advance to do something big, like finally run a dream r...
Read more

7 Bridges Hike Through Urban San Diego

-
Image
  One of the most popular hikes in San Diego doesn’t involve climbing mountains or crossing rural roads. It’s a walking tour through some of the city’s nicest, most densely populated neighborhoods with seven bridges as focal points.    I first did this 5-mile loop with friends shortly after it was publicized in the San Diego Reader. We liked it so much we came back to Balboa Park about a year later to do it again, and this time I documented our trip with my GoPro (RIP, dear camera companion). It’s been four years since I made that video, so we were overdue when everyone gathered this morning to start the trek.   I MPORTANT: You can start from anywhere since the course is a loop.   However, you are more likely to find free parking if you start and end in Balboa Park.   1.       Park Blvd Bridge No coincidence the hike starts at the bridge spanning Park Blvd. on the east side of Balboa Park. The bridge links gorgeous gardens to lawns ...
Read more

Nature on the Rebound

-
Image
We opted this year to spend our annual post-Thanksgiving family hike in East County, specifically in an area ravaged three years ago by the Cedar fire. The blaze would eventually consume a third of San Diego County, kill 14 people and come within a a couple of hundred yards of our own home well northwest of here. I was, of course, running when disaster hit. This one would have been easy to run, but my fellow hikers like to linger. I did too that weekend, given an earlier blood donation left me lagging physically for several days. At least this time my multivitamin and last-minute spinach-stuffing got me past the iron screening. We took two trails. One riperian, where we were cooled by a canopy of twisty oaks and the trickle of a nearby stream. The other was up to a rocky summit that proved far more difficult to reach, just as a hiking guide had warned. The last stretch is pretty much slick slate and loose gravel, with nothing for shoes to grab for traction. And if you do make it past t...
Read more