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Correspondence
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Volume 345:1576-1577 November 22, 2001 Number 21
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The Privacy of Medical Records

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To the Editor: In his editorial (Aug. 2 issue), Dr. Welch addresses the misuse of private medical records and states that "no other developed nation would tolerate this abridgment of individual rights."1 In a harmless but frightening way, the AstraZeneca pharmaceutical company sent two personal letters to my home that urged me to ask my physician about prescribing Nexium and offered a free seven-day trial. This occurred because I occasionally have heartburn.

It is perfectly legal for pharmaceutical companies to buy prescription data from pharmacies and insurance companies. With an unprecedented degree of cynicism, Lisa Schoenberg, the product director of . . . [Full Text of this Article]

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