Are patients’ medical privacy concerns best served by the opt-out or the opt-in privacy systems? In British Medical Journal July 1, 2006 this is debated from a UK and a US perspective:

For and against:
Patients should have to opt out of national electronic care records

“. . . issues of consent and security are dividing health professionals, the public, and the national programme for information technology. Nigel Watson believes his experience of opting out shows it to be the most workable option, but John Halamka uses a US model to argue that opting in is the only way to ensure confidentiality.”
http://press.psprings.co.uk/bmj/july/ac39.pdf

BMJ.com this week