Entrusting Medical Data To an Internet Site

By Michel Marriott

In the realm of privacy, few things are as sacrosanct as personal medical records. So when PersonalMD.com, a Web site that began operating this summer, offered to store records on line so that in emergencies doctors anywhere could retrieve them, skeptics doubted there would be many takers.

But the company's representatives say that so far more tahn 60,000 people have become members of its Web site (www.personalmd.com) and that more of them are uploading their medical histories.

Suresh Challa, the chief executive of PersonalMD.com, said lives could be saved by having medical records sent quickly to emergency rooms. By putting information like a person's blood type and EKG and other medical data on line, it can be made available amlost instaneously for doctors adn other medical workers.

The information can also be sent by fax to the many emergency rooms that do not have Internet access.

Mr. Challa said that the medical information on the site was encrypted for security and that someone could gain access only with a password and PIN code.

PersonalMD.com is not alone. Medical Records.com is also parking medical records in cyberspace for rapid delivery to doctors adn hospitals around the workd in cases of emregencies. The records are also availabel if doctors need to treat people who are traveling far from home.

A woman who suffered a serious allergic reaction while traveling in Mongolia said she had been able to get the proper medication when doctors there quickly got her medical history at www.medicalrecords.com.

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