May 20, 2008

Google Launches Health Portal, Not Fully Available To All Folks Of Color

by Piers Fawkes

google health.pngGoogle have taken a step further into collecting and leveraging personal information by providing Google Health. It’s a place to let people record all their health content and, we guess, the system then responds and reacts by helping you find the right doctors and healthcare. Maybe one day it will help you find drugs. The site says:

Google Health allows you to store and manage all of your health information in one central place. And it’s completely free. All you need to get started is a Google username and password. Google believes that you own your medical records and should have easy access to them. The way we see it, it’s your information; why shouldn’t you control it?

* Keep your doctors up-to-date
* Stop filling out the same paperwork every time you see a new doctor
* Avoid getting the same lab tests done over and over again because your doctor cannot get copies of your latest results
* Don’t lose your medical records because of a move, change in jobs or health insurance

Picture 6.png
What’s a little disappointing is that the racial profile questions are a little naive. South-Asian/Indian? Sorry! Middle Eastern origin? Sorry!While they seem to be taken from dated census question, Google have failed to be open enough to take into account the 63 racial profiles that the Census bureau acknowledges nor the growing mixed race population. There isn’t even an ‘Other’ box. And therefore if you don’t fit Google’s racial criteria, you can’t fully use the site.

Article categories: Health & Beauty, Web & Technology

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2 Responses to “Google Launches Health Portal, Not Fully Available To All Folks Of Color”

  1. Chong
    Posted from: 70.176.249.15

    May 20th, 2008 at 8:29 pm

    Being an Asian guy, I consider my Asian counterparts (whether from India, China, Japan, Iraq) as Asians. Therefore, Google has covered its bases.

  2. Gladys
    Posted from: 151.204.146.26

    May 21st, 2008 at 12:54 am

    Not including a “Multiracial” box was a huge oversight and I don’t think that the “Check all that apply” option is an adequate substitution.

    This statement, “When you revoke someone’s ability to read your health information, that party will no longer be able to read your information, but may have already seen or may retain a copy of the information,” is really unsettling.

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