katysails wrote:


Since I am the HIPAA privacy officer for our facility, I will explain how that works. As long as information is shared that could not lead to the identification of any particular individual, then it is ok to discuss. Thus, a general discussion of medical practices, policies and procedures is allowable. Also a discussion about generalities in the system when they apply to groups of people. There is no way that anyone could interpret any of the information I recounted could be attributable to a particular person. Since we have residents come in that for that particular profile on a regular basis, it becomes a generic discussion.

Wasn't ths pretty much the same rules and professional curtesy before HIPAA? Anyway my understanding is that the new rules imposed by HIPAA will change a lot of things about access to medical records and will be an intense PITA to most people. And it won't help at all with privacy of medical records IMHO.



As far as the discussion regarding stem cell research...now that I have read more and have discovered that a body can generate its' own stem cells, I have no problem with it.

Of course the body makes new sem cells. That's where blood comes from. But it's not necessarily possible to make new tissue from such stem cells, in any event it's a long long way off if it is possible at all.


Only problem I have is when it's linked to the products of abortion (dead baby tissue).

Not a good idea IMHO, either. But it is just as well that dead baby tissue be used for some constructive purpose, as long as the incentive to make new dead baby tissue is not increased. After all, older people donate useful organs.


And of course, I'm not against the space program. I'm all for being discovered by alien lifeforms that know more than us. If they're out there, they're not making contact because we're not worthy of it yet.

When I was a kid, they kept telling us that we'd have moon colonies and space ships and all kinds of cool stuff. But no, they lied.... it was (and still is) possible. We just have to get motivated. As Robert Heinlein said, "Up in space it is raining soup, and we haven't even invented buckets." Another consideration is that space is the ultimate military high ground, and other space programs are catching up to ours.


BTW, God is androgynous...neither male nor female...

It makes sense to me that God would have no polarization with regard to human sexual identity. Obviously God is above & beyond all that (unless you like certain old time legends). I just like calling God "She" because it ****es off certain types of people.

Regards
Doug King