It wasn't a good look for online news outlet The Conversation this week when it was forced to retract an article by Deakin University academics Danuta Mendelson and Gabrielle Wolf about the My Health Record. The article was taken down in a flash once several egregious errors were pointed out but is still available online if you search hard enough.

It wasn't a good look for the authors either. It seems they misread the recent legislative rule enabling the opt-out model for the My Health Record to be applied next year and thought it started a fortnight ago. They also seemed to think health practitioners can search for patients' records just with their Medicare number. We suggest that the Australian Digital Health Agency and the Department of Health put their heads together to see how these misunderstandings can be avoided in future.