When we're the Christmas present
How listening devices can gift our health secrets
(My Christmas stocking, hung by the chimney with care)
What if this Christmas, we found out that we were the gift we never meant to give?
Telemedicine allows patients to talk to doctors and other clinicians about their concerns from the comfort of their own home. Using devices such as tablets, PCs, and smartphones patients can have video calls hosted in their own homes. I spoke to one patient – I’ll call her Carole, who lives in a small city in the mid-West with her mom and dad. Carole told me about the unexpected privacy risks associated with this medium – some accidental and some more sinister.
“Over Christmas, my sister and her husband were home with us. I had a telemedicine appointment and made it very apparent ‘I’m going to therapy now upstairs.’ I even made sure my door was closed, and I had fans on and stuff, so I was less audible.”
“During the call, I started to get very worried that there were other people upstairs with me.”
(My Christmas tree)
