My doctor was wearing "Google glasses"

[left-of-center2012]

I saw my primary care doctor this morning. It was my first visit in six months, and he spent about 45 minutes with me. Since my last visit the doctors have begun wearing "Google glasses" and the conversation between patient and doctor, plus a video of the interaction, is transmitted to a location 'off site' and is recording as part of the medical record. As I understood it, a person was at that location monitoring everything. I had to sign a consent form and pretty much was told if I didn't sign the form I'd need to find a doctor elsewhere who does not use "Google glasses".

I like my doctor and the medical practice, so I signed. I soon forgot he was wearing them, up to the point where he began examining parts of my body. I soon thought "If this goes below the belt, I'm going to ask for a fee" ... but it didn't. Next time I'll wear some sexy underwear, just in case. (Memo to self: buy sexy underwear)

I see online that this is to give the doctor more time interacting with the patient and less time entering data on a computer during the time a patient is with the doctor in the exam room. Yet, it does (to me) seem invasive, and yet one more way in which we individuals are losing our privacy.

Does your doctor use Google glasses? Would you have signed the form and allowed your interaction to be recorded?

Here's How Google Glass Could Transform Visits To The Doctor Office

[boston bean]

1. No. I would not have consented.

[snooper2]

31. there is a reason HIPPA exists

There is a reason people like myself in telecom have to take it into consideration all the time, just PCI regulations-

[Liberal_in_LA]

2. hell no

[Initech]

3. I thought Google ceased the manufacture of Google Glass.

[Lancero]

23. Nope, they just haven't put em out to the consumer market yet.

They've had two runs of them so far, with hardware improvements in the second run, for developers and a small amount of testers.

Edit - They did cancel the explorer program back in January pending a redesign. The canceling of this program was reported by quite a few news sites as them discontinuing it all together, or from the consumer market, but the explorer program was never intended to sell to the open market - Just to developers.

[pinboy3niner]

4. Never heard of that

My PA at the VA is very thorough, spends a lot of time with me and orders tests and scans for anything of concern. Before everything is finalized, though, he leaves the exam room to consult with his supervising M.D.

[Renew Deal]

5. Something you said or did will likely be dredged up by the insurance company to use against you

Last edited Tue Apr 7, 2015, 10:46 PM - Edit history (1)

In a future claim.

[onehandle]

6. Run. Away. Google is the second biggest data thief after the NSA, and there is a rumor...

...that hackers have been collecting Google data (including any searches you have done through Google) and are about to do a Massive data dump on basically every person that has used Google on Earth.

Imagine being able to search for 'name x' and 'google.'

Browser history, Google docs, Google associated data. Everything.

If you remember the film 'Sneakers'... Well... No More Secrets.

[Warren DeMontague]

9. So we'll know how many people have searched for "Kim Kardashian's feet covered in mayonaisse"

Probably somewhere around 700 million.

What we will learn, I suspect, is that our weird, shameful, freaky and funky fetishes are depressingly commonplace.

[onehandle]

10. That's probably the most commonplace usage for this tactic.

But the most devastating usage will be employers judging employees by their habits and associations.

"Hey, it says here that Bob posts at a far left site called 'Democratic Underground.' Hello, HR? Please fire Bob."

This is why I stopped using my 'real name' Google ID years ago. Mostly I use Duck Duck Go.

I use Google in the office, but that's associated with my work ID, where I do not post to DU... or search for Kim Kardashian's feet covered in mayonnaise.

[Warren DeMontague]

14. Wise.

Although, again, there is something like safety in numbers. If big boss man finds out that 500 employees are all posting at DU, he's not gonna fire them all.

Maybe I'd feel differently if I lived in a red part of the country, but at least around here no one is going to be any more shocked to find out someone like me posts at DU, than they would to find out I searched for "Monica Bellucci topless"

....not that I'd ever admit to such a thing, of course.

[Egnever]

12. LOL Apple apostle strikes again with rumors

Some people say....

[Warren DeMontague]

7. This article is dated last July.

Since then, I'm pretty sure Google has discontinued Glass. Odds of doctors wearing the things en masse are fairly low at this point.

[Ms. Toad]

8. No, and absolutely not.

This won't save time - or if it does it will be useless. We have one doctor who dictates his notes before we leave the office. What he dictates is his summary of the important points from the visit. An indiscriminate transmission to some place off-site does not provide the culling the doctor does when he enters notes.

I am a big fan of being a training tool for doctors - whatever state of undress my procedure requires me to be. I would much rather be treated by doctors who have seen lots of different bodies and conditions - and have had the experience of being the first for many (some in training, some with gray hair). Taping a visit for training purposes - with pretty much unlimited medical viewing rights - of one of my unicorn or zebra conditions (if you hear hoofbeats think horse - in my family zebras show up regularly and occasionally unicorns)? I'm all on board with that!

Taping a visit so some medical transcriptionist somewhere off-site can try to figure out what it is that is important to keep in the record (and I can think of no other valid reason connected with the medical record)? No thanks. I want a doc who is not too lazy to take a few moments to organize and jot down (or record) his thoughts.

[pinboy3niner]

19. Excellent points

And besides the redundancy of someone else having to watch the whole exam, I'd think a doctor's own notes would be more useful when he or she needs to consult patient history notes.

[femmocrat]

11. My doctor doesn't even have email or voicemail.

I like that he is old school.

[left-of-center2012]

13. Google glasses still available to professionals

Google will stop selling Glass to the general public Jan. 19.
The company confirmed the report and said Google will still give Glass units to developers and companies who want to look at its applications for the office as part of Google's "Glass at Work" program,
which has examined how the headset can help professionals such as doctors, emergency workers and filmmakers.

Google will stop selling Glass to the general public. But Google says the device is not dead yet

[enlightenment]

15. No.

Nor will I ever give permission for a third person to sit in the room listening and recording any conversation I have with my physician.

[Hekate]

22. I've only refused once. All I had to say was, "I don't really feel comfortable with that" ...

... and the young man waited outside. I've said yes to all other requests to have an intern observe.

But this business with Google Glass sounds more than a little creepy.

[enlightenment]

28. Teaching institutions are a different

situation. While I am not always thrilled to have a gaggle of fledgling doctors standing around, I understand the reasons. I don't put a scheduled visit with my GP in that category.

Having a doctor wearing Google Glass would feel like I was in a room with a one-way mirror. I know there are people on the other side, but I don't know who they are, their qualifications for being there, or any other information. From my perspective, they are no different than a voyeur at a peep show.

Same goes for having scribes in the room. If a doctor can't recall the conversation we are having, he or she can bring in a recorder and keep verbal notes to transcribe (or have transcribed) later.

As for the newest phenomenon - "group visits" - that rates less than zero in my book. It may make it easier for a single doctor to see multiple patients, but it has nothing to do with quality of care. If I want unqualified advice from a stranger, I'll flag somebody down in the street.

[lumberjack_jeff]

16. Contrariness is in my nature so, yes.

I think we're kidding ourselves if we think that our medical records are in any way private. I'd argue that their primary feature isn't privacy but untrustworthiness and ambiguity.

Given the choice between the column of coded numbers describing my health that the doctor records in his computer and an actual comprehensive record that he could revisit were it to prove sensible, I'd choose the latter. Further, if the recording is shared with an intern or student, there's a possibility that something said in passing might trigger a useful insight from a second set of eyes. If surgery or a visit with a specialist is appropriate, I don't necessarily have to remember what my symptoms were during the visit with my PCP.

Most doctors are limited to about 7 minutes of ephemeral conversation that I doubt either of us can remember. I don't think anything is lost in terms of privacy and I think a great deal is gained in terms of meticulousness.

[Man from Pickens]

17. here's what to do

"GOOGLE SEARCH: diarrhea!"
"SAFE SEARCH OFF!"
"OPEN FIRST 50 RESULTS IN NEW TABS!"

[Ilsa]

18. How do Google glasses help when a dr is using a

Stethoscope? The lung and heart sounds aren't transmitted, I bet, so there is nothing to report via GG about auscultation.

My primary care dr types notes as she interviews me. Hasn't really slowed us down much.

[left-of-center2012]

20. How do Google glasses help when a dr is using a Stethoscope?

He says out loud what he's hearing.

[Hekate]

21. No thank you, I'm leaving now and will tell the insurance company not to pay you for this visit

No, I don't think I need a breast exam or Pap smear from you this year. Or ever.

So, left of center, is this your actual experience, or a quote from somebody else? Or what?

[left-of-center2012]

25. is this your actual experience

Yes. This happened Tuesday when I went to see my primary care doctor.

[Hekate]

29. So how do you feel you performed on the prostate exam? nt

[951-Riverside]

24. Time to find a new doctor

I will never go to a doctor that has a computer with webcam attached in the office or dome cam overhead or those creepy google glasses.

Yes, I scan the room before I see the doctor.

[Orrex]

26. This simply foregrounds the likelihood that he'll snap a selfie during my prostate exam

Smile!

[Bluenorthwest]

27. Not only would I not consent to such a thing, no practice I give custom to would dare ask such a

thing of their patients. Out of the question and even asking the question would cause me to end dealings with such an office.

[randome]

30. It wouldn't bother me in the slightest but I don't see the benefits.

And knowing that some would object, why would a doctor bother with them in the first place unless he thinks he looks 'cool'? Even doctors have mid-life crises sometimes.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]Precision and concision. That's the game.[/center][/font][hr]

[left-of-center2012]

32. why would a doctor bother with them in the first place

He belongs to the largest medical group in Albuquerque (if not the state) and all of their doctors are now using them.

[Skittles]

33. F*** NO I would not consent to that

NO NO NO