The search giant's push into artificial intelligence as a tool for health improvement is a natural evolution for a company that has developed algorithms that reach deep into our lives through the Web.
Tech evangelists say consumer electronics that sense, stream and interpret vital signs will lead to better health and lower costs. But skeptics say reliability and privacy issues still loom.
Health insurer Aetna has reached a settlement with people whose privacy was compromised when their HIV status was visible through the clear address windows on envelopes sent to them.
Apps can make managing health care a lot easier, but most don't have the privacy protections required of doctors and hospitals. And a simple Web search can clue in advertisers to health concerns.
As health care increasingly moves from hospitals and doctors' offices to the home, patient medical data become more vulnerable to hackers. Dartmouth College researchers hope their product will help.
Deceased veterans' documents were sent to the wrong widows. VA workers snooped on patients who had committed suicide. And whistleblowers contend the VA violated their medical privacy.
Regulators have logged dozens, even hundreds of complaints against some health providers for violating federal patient privacy law. Warnings are doled out privately, and sanctions are rarely imposed.
When well-known performers receive health care, the details of their cases can leak. Electronic medical records make peeking easier — and also make it easier to catch the staffers who looked.
Breaches that expose the health details of just a patient or two are proliferating nationwide. Regulators focus on larger privacy breaches and rarely take action on small ones, despite their harm.
Public professional Facebook pages focused on medicine are catching on. But doctors aren't ready to share vacation photos and other more intimate details with their patients.
Searching a medical issue on the Internet seems harmless enough, but one researcher found that online medical searches may be seen by hidden parties, and the data even sold for profit.
Hackers may have gained access to records for 11 million people covered by Premera Blue Cross. It's the latest lapse keeping an obscure government agency that investigates the breaches busy.
