When you take a prescription drug, that's between you, your doctor and your pharmacist. No one else has a right to know.

Perhaps not for much longer.

Under legislation that quietly passed in the California Senate on May 29 (bill SB 1096) and is making its way through the Assembly, drugstores would be free to share patients' prescription records with companies that specialize in bulk mailings.

The ostensible rationale for the data sharing is that it would help consumers by providing letters reminding people to take their medication or refill a prescription.

The reality, critics say, is that this is an effort by pharmaceutical companies to help ensure that patients stick with expensive name-brand drugs and not stray toward cheaper generic alternatives. It also could lead to privacy violations.

"Your private medical information is being transferred from one database to another", said Jerry Flanagan of Santa Monica-based Consumer Watchdog. "Once that genie's out of the bottle, it's very hard to get it back in". The've also launched a campaign for fighting against this bill.

The creator of this Senate Bill says it has been misunderstood by the public, and particularly by journalists who failed to grasp its finer points. Contrary to some reports, he said, it wouldn't allow drug companies to send you pitches for their medicines in an attempt to get patients to switch from one brand to another.

Oh my! :-(

Read the rest of this tremendously intricate plot involving politics, drug makers, money and online privacy at David Lazarus' Consumer Confidential Blog (Los Angeles Times).

What's your opinion?