Tag: health policy

The Disproportionate Impacts of Obstetric Violence on Minority Women

Serena Williams is a superstar tennis player and a force to be reckoned with, especially after sharing her harrowing postnatal experience. Williams has a history of pulmonary embolisms, and the day after giving birth to her daughter via C-section, she had trouble breathing and believed she was experiencing a blood clot. After Williams alerted a nurse, the nurse suggested Williams’s pain medication left her confused and instead insisted a doctor perform an ultrasound on her legs. Doctors ignored Williams, who knew she needed a CT scan and heparin drip. This dismissal of Williams’ concerns delayed the discovery of several blood clots in her lungs and a large hematoma in Williams’ abdomen, near her C-section wound; she was placed on six-week’s bedrest following this event. Williams’ deeply upsetting interaction with her doctors is not uncommon for new mothers in the days following childbirth, especially among minority women.

Between 700 and 900 women die yearly from complications stemming from pregnancy and childbirth. For every death, there are a handful of women who suffer life-threatening birth injuries. There is a notable racial disparity in the figures, and black women are seventy-five percent more likely to experience a traumatic birth compared to white women. Traumatic birth experiences often result from obstetric violence, a notion that encompasses disrespectful attitudes from doctors, discrimination from care providers, and lack of consent for treatment. In 2016, the American College of Gynecologists published a committee opinion outlining that a “decisionally capable” woman has the right to refuse certain treatments while she is in labor. Furthermore, the College strongly discouraged “manipulation [and] coercion” to influence a woman’s treatment decision. Although this opinion offers guidance to practitioners, it is not binding, and many women nonetheless face varying forms of obstetric violence.

Obstetric violence is especially severe for women of
color due to the widespread discrimination within the maternity care field. The CDC notes that
Black women in the US are three times more likely to die from childbirth-related issues than white
women. Across the country, the maternal mortality rate has risen to 17.3 maternal deaths per 100,000 births.
The United States is one of only a select handful of
countries where the maternal
mortality rate is worse now than it was 25 years ago.

Anecdotal evidence
from doulas in Milwaukee and Washington, D.C., both cities that support a large
low-income and Black population, reveals how doctors often justify acts of
obstetric violence by feigning paternalistic worry and falsely claiming either
the mother or infant were in danger. Additionally, it is well-established that black women fare worse in pregnancy, and growing evidence points to a low quality of care
in hospitals where black women seek maternal care, which are often found in
highly segregated areas. Research has also indicated that women who deliver in
these hospitals are more
likely to have complications
from birth-related embolisms and hysterectomies. Black women believe their concerns
are not addressed by their healthcare teams; for many women of color, the news of a baby
evokes fear rather than joy because these women know of the alarming trends and
how treatment teams may disregard their wishes and concerns.

In the wake of the CDC and WHO data on obstetric
violence and maternal mortality rates, legislators have signed H.R. 1318/S. 1112,
which supports states to put an end to preventable maternal deaths.
Additionally, Senator Kamala Harris introduced the Maternal Care Access Reducing Emergencies Act meant to promote training programs for healthcare
professionals that would address implicit biased based on stereotypes. Until the
legislation takes effect, organizations like Improving Birth and Birth Monopoly
will continue advocating for women who have faced obstetric violence.

Electronic Health Records: The Dark Side of Digitizing Health Data in the Online Era

The Electronic Health Record (EHR) is permeating the healthcare industry. Easily accessible “minute clinics” and mobile apps providing diagnostic services are all fortuitous results of the increasing digitization of our medical history. While there are many clear benefits to having an EHR—providing accurate and better healthcare, better clinical decision making, and lower healthcare costs—there are numerous privacy risks associated with EHR utilization.

The EHR was a little-known concept when President George W. Bush broached the idea of computerizing health records in his 2004 State of the Union Address. Since then, the healthcare industry has seen a national push to become 100% EHR-dependent; a mission bolstered by President Obama promoting the use of EHRs in both the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act as part of the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH) of 2009 and the Affordable Care Act (ACA) of 2010.

Private industries and the general public are increasingly buying into the idea of EHRs as well; according to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, there has been an upward trend in the percentage of patients who find the implementation of EHRs important. There has also been a year-over-year increase in the percentage of healthcare providers who have adopted EHRs, reaching 67% in 2017.

However, this progress toward 100% EHR utilization has also caused increased privacy concerns as EHRs contain a patient’s most sensitive data. These medical records are valuable on the black market as they include a wide range of personal information such as medical history, social security numbers, and insurance details. The permanency of this information provides criminals enough data to completely steal an individual’s identity as well as the ability to commit a wide array of other crimes.

In the summer of 2016, a rogue online actor known as “thedarkoverlord,” stole 655,000 health records from three healthcare providers in the United States. The hacker quickly put the stolen records up for sale on the dark web for an asking price of $700,000. The anonymous hacker told Vice’s Motherboard publication that “[t]he data could be used for anything from getting lines of credit to opening bank accounts to carrying out loan fraud and much more.” This data breach represented a mere 2.4% of all stolen electronic health records in 2016.

More often than not, the burden to resolve the theft of medical records—such as in the case of “thedarkoverlord”—rests with the patient. According to Ponenom Institute’s Fifth Annual Study on Medical Identity Theft, “[s]ixty-five percent of medical identity theft victims […] had to pay an average of $13,500 to resolve the crime.” The heavy financial burden and continued attacks directly affect the public’s concern for its privacy. In 2015, 68% of patients were not confident that their healthcare providers could protect their medical records from loss or theft.

To prevent and combat security concerns, lawmakers have enacted regulations “to protect the privacy of individuals’ health information while allowing covered entities to adopt new technologies to improve the quality and efficiency of patient care.” These competing interests have become more difficult to balance with the increasing reliance on EHRs and thus the increasing opportunity to steal data.

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) has been the cornerstone legislation on health-data privacy and holds organizations responsible for breaches of data it protects, yet major data breaches still occur through company oversight. In an attempt to incentivize private entities to keep cybersecurity frameworks up to date, Ohio recently passed a law that creates a safe harbor against tort claims for companies who are victims of a data breach. In order to take advantage of this law, companies must comply with the strict state-mandated security framework criteria. Ohio’s innovative approach to cybersecurity enforcement aims to encourage all businesses to implement cybersecurity programs tailored to protect sensitive information while still allowing for technologies to improve.

When President Bush called for implementing EHRs in 2004, he—nor anyone—could have predicted the scale of the current data breaches. A healthcare system reliant upon EHRs is new territory for the health industry and will continue to draw in those who wish to steal its data. However, with continued reliance upon the protections of our regulations such as HIPPA and innovative methods to incentivize a high level of cybersecurity in the private sector, we can feel secure in our progress towards the future that EHRs can provide.

Pentagon Reviewing Care for Veterans Exposed to Chemical Weapons

An October investigation by the New York Times (NYT) has led the Pentagon to review and adjust how it cares for veterans returning from tours in Iraq who believe they were exposed to chemical weapons.  The NYT investigation notes that between 2004 and 2011, American and American-trained Iraqi troops “repeatedly” found chemical weapons and were even wounded by them on “at least” six occasions.  All told, the report states that 5,000 chemical warheads, shells or aviation bombs were found in that time.  It also noted that secrecy was needed regarding the discoveries.  Secrecy surrounding the missions, however, may have put a number of military service personnel at risk as they were not aware of the threat these old munitions were to their health. Also, they were not allowed to discuss with military doctors the nature of their injuries and thus could not receive the proper treatment.

In 2004, the Army sent out instructions for the treatment of exposed soldiers which included collection and analysis of blood and urine samples for all potentially exposed soldiers followed by annual, long-term follow-up appointments – coordinated by the Deployment Health Clinical Center at Walter Reed Army Medical Center – for those who had indeed been exposed.  In addition, incidents of exposure were to be recorded and reported by Command Surgeons and a database maintained by the US Army Center for Health Promotion and Preventative Medicine.  However, the original NY Times investigation uncovered veterans who were never given blood and urine tests, told their symptoms were from something else, and returned to duty before their symptoms were over.  Furthermore, the long-term care they were promised was never followed up on.

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel moved quickly to correct these issues.  Shortly after the investigation, which only mentioned 17 American service members that were exposed, he ordered an internal review of Pentagon records, specifically the collection of “post deployment health assessments” held by the Army’s Public Health Command.  In a statement following that review, the Pentagon now says that more than 600 American service members reported exposure to chemical weapons in Iraq according to the surveys filled out by troops returning from combat tours.   In the survey, they specifically ask the question “Do you think you were exposed to any chemical, biological and radiological warfare agents during this deployment?”  The Army surgeon general’s office said that 629 of these surveys were affirmative for this question.

The Army and Navy have both made statements that the examinations promised to long-term veterans will start to be available in early 2015.  Furthermore, because the previous policy of secrecy created a lack of records of exposure, the military will be reaching out to units that were possibly exposed to try and find all of the affected veterans.  Finally, there will be a hotline for veterans to call who believe they were exposed to chemical weapons.  Hopefully as the secrecy fades away and outreach continues – these veterans can get the help they need.