This afternoon a long-awaited irrevocable decision has been made: the introduction of the national Electronic Health Record (Elektronisch Patiënten Dossier, EPD) was unanimously rejected by the Dutch Senate. After 14 years and spending 300 million euros, the national EPD has ended up where it should have been years earlier: at the Scrapyard of Draconian Laws. Two years ago the Dutch House of Representatives accepted by a large majority the same plan for the national exchange of very sensitive patient’s data: almost all of the large Dutch political parties, namely PvdA, GroenLinks, D66, VVD, ChristenUnie, SGP and CDA voted in favour. This afternoon all these parties made a historic U-turn. Even the Christian-democratic CDA now seems to be cured. Progressive insight? Who…
It is a well established principle of justice that a company selling a consumer product ought to take proper care for the health of the user of that product, even on a basis of "could have known". Cell phone companies certainly have not shown much care for the health of their buyers. Just like tobacco companies have funded pseudo-scientific research that proved that smoking was not related to any health hazards, likewise the phone companies have produced reports that radiation from cell phones was not harmful. They were referring to the same kind of radiation that is 'cooking' your ear when you make a call of, say, five minutes. Because one cannot feel what is happening to your brain (no pain…
