Health care data and informed consent in the 21st century: what tech companies have planned for patient information, and why you need to know.

2:30 – 3:30pm EST

Opening Ceremony: Joanna Meawasige – Vautour

Land Acknowledgement

Introduction: An overview and context of the session will be provided prior to introducing each discussant.

Health care data and informed consent in the 21st century: what tech companies have planned for patient information, and why you need to know.

Jack Poulson will provide a window into the plans the “Big Six” tech companies (Amazon, Google, Facebook, IBM, Microsoft, Apple) have for patient data. This session is a must for hospitals, community health centres, health care policy-makers, researchers, community legal clinics and all those whose work involves confidential health care information and equity. In a recent interview in The Guardian, Poulson discussed the need for tech workers to understand what they are engaging in, saying, “I believe tech workers need informed consent about when their work may lead to loss of life or suppression of human rights or freedoms.” People working in health care should have this same right. Further, the health system has an obligation to inform patients about what they’re really agreeing to when they share their data with health care systems and software. LLana James and Jack Poulson will provide tools to help think through what it means to be collecting and handling confidential health care data in the 21st century.