Data mining becoming an issue in Pharmacies

Here is an article on data mining of drug prescriptions by Bill Mears, CNN Supreme court producer.

Pharmacies are required under law to preserve a doctor's prescription records, and although federal law protects a patient's privacy, a physician does not receive similar protections. Drug makers have been after profits hidden inside pharmacies for years, they are not after your name but after the drug being offered. Because laws are getting passed that are shrinking health care cost which is making it harder for companies to sell new and innovated products. Yes, data mining is in pharmacies but not after customers, but after the behaviors of doctors for writing the prescription, so when it is time to market they know what to go sell. Firms like IMS Health say their for-profit services benefit patients and doctors by making it possible to track disease and monitor drug safety and effectiveness. Do you think this benefits you?

Marketing of information on consumers' credit card purchases, Internet use, financial investments and savings, and insurance coverage may all be affected by what the high court decides for the first time on the issue of data mining for commercial purposes. Even potentially non-marketing uses, such as news reporting, scholarly research, and general publishing could be subject to some form of government regulation. Even though people are after all this information, is there really any possible way to make them stop? And how would we even know if we are being monitored or not? If the drug makers really feel that mining this information can be not only lucrative but can save lives I say why stop them. The government wants is so that laws would only prevent "further dissemination of the data except for health care research” and this could also give the doctors a chance to turn away marketers and create more privacy. But what if that marketer has a drug that has less side effects and cost a lot less for the doctor and patient? Are we missing out in that way or is our privacy more valuable to us?  

"High Court Hears Case over 'data Mining' of Drug Prescription Data." CNN. N.p., 26 Apr. 2011. Web. 13 Mar. 2013.