An interesting query

I have recently polled other EMS bloggers to ask where they draw the line in what they post and what they don't.

HIPAA is always a concern, so let's take a look into the in's and out's of HIPAA:
What is it? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_Insurance_Portability_and_Accountability_Act
The purpose of HIPAA was to put an end to health care fraud. Or to at least curb it's rampant practice. It seems that in the day and age of identity theft, your credit isn't the only thing crooks are after- Aunt Edna's medicare number became a valuable commodity as well. The long and short of it- you can't share any individually identifiable information about anyone. I can't blog about an awesome wreck we ran and tell all you out there in cyberspace that we got called to Mr. Inglebert Humperdink (name used for illustration of a point) at 3198 Santa LouisaMariaHernandez Avenue, with a date of birth of 22/48/37 and a social security number of 463746374836582949. Then again that should just be common sense. Most of what I blog about is already written up on our county website and can be read about there. Wait- I don't say where I work. Let's leave it at that.

Now, since we are looking into an interesting query as well, let's examine the FIRST AMENDMENT: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_of_speech_in_the_United_States
This includes but is not limited to the freedom of expression, freedom of speech, and is protected by congress. That doesn't mean common sense should go out the window.

Now of course if you blog about anything, you open yourself up to cyberstalking: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyberstalking
This can be online, but can also extend to text messages, phone calls, blog comments, emails, and other forms of harassment (all traceable).

I have quite a few links off to the right of other medical and EMS blogs. Most of them are tastefully done. Some do include choice language and a bit more venting than I usually do, and others are "just the facts, ma'am". I guess that's what makes blogging so interesting. It makes a great outlet and lets us all bounce ideas off each other. Off to read some more funny, witty, sad, gross, exciting, all-of-the-above stories.