Civil Law Assignment: Impact of Privacy Laws on Consumers and Medicine

This report delves into the critical area of civil law, specifically addressing privacy concerns in the digital age. It begins by highlighting the need for robust privacy regulations, spurred by events like the Cambridge Analytica scandal, and emphasizes the importance of protecting consumer data. The report explores the impact of privacy laws on various sectors, including the medical field, and discusses the implications of electronic medical records (EMR) on patient privacy. It stresses the need for a unified federal approach to privacy legislation, as opposed to the current state-by-state variations, to ensure consistent protection for consumers. The report also touches upon the ethical considerations of data usage, particularly in the context of medical advancements, and underscores the significance of safeguarding patient information and confidentiality. The report references the need for the protection of personal data with the implementation of privacy laws and also includes references to support the claims.

Running head: CIVIL LAW
Civil Law
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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There has been an urge to create of authority for the purpose of regulating the privacy of the
Americans and protecting the same. This has been a direct result of the Cambridge Analytica scandal that
has been viewed as a threat towards the consumers as well as democracy that has been affected by way
excessive usage of the personal information belonging to consumer. The general data protection
regulation that has been a privacy law prevailing in Europe needs recognition and implementation by the
companies operating in a global platform for the purpose of imposing maximum penalties with respect of
any leakage of personal information belonging to the consumers they have been dealing with. There has
been an attempt taken by the Congress for the purpose of formulating privacy laws pertaining to
consumers involving the United Nations along with 80 additional countries with the implementation of
national laws for extending protection towards the information, which are personal to the consumers.
Search a formulation of Federal legislation protecting privacy would set a standard to follow for the
companies while treating personal information belonging to the consumers. The consent that has been
taken from the consumers after presenting them with a document of thousands of words would not count
as a valid privacy compliance. The selling of personal information in the name of progress in the field of
medicine cannot be allowed for the sake of development in technology. The privacy laws have a
considerable amount of impact within the field of medicine (www.nytimes.com, 2019).
The medical privacy is the most significant form of privacy law that requires of stringent
attention and policies to be regulated with. This requires the confidentiality and security of the records of
the patients to be maintained by the medical professionals including caregivers. This particular concept
has two aspects. Firstly, there needs to be a maintenance of the privacy belonging to the patient physically
from the other patients. Secondly, it requires the medical records to be securedly preserved with respect to
the patience. The main areas of concern in medical field with respect to privacy is the extent to which
disclosure can be meet towards the insurance companies, the employer as well as other concerned third
parties. The concern of privacy has been escalated with the introduction of electronic medical records
(EMR). This along with the patient care management has created issues regarding privacy within the

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medical field. There have been balanced efforts implemented for the purpose of reducing duplication
relating to services as well as errors of medical nature. There has been numerous efforts in the medical
field for the purpose of formulating Federal laws and implement within the field of medicine for the
purpose of protecting privacy rights regarding the medical data. There are several States within the
territory of United States that have passed and implemented its own set of laws for dealing with privacy
issues. However, a stringent and more authoritative legislation covering the whole of the federation needs
to be enforced for the purpose of achieving maximum protection of the privacy relating to consumers
irrespective of the field concerned (Price, & Cohen, 2019).

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Reference
www.nytimes.com. (2019). Opinion | Why America Needs a Thoughtful Federal Privacy Law. Retrieved
8 September 2019, from https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/25/opinion/congress-privacy-law.html
Price, W. N., & Cohen, I. G. (2019). Privacy in the age of medical big data. Nature medicine, 25(1), 37.