Comparing Two Similar Questions from the Dental Medical History and the Nutrition Risk Checklist

The two questions that I'll compare are -

• Question 37 from the Dental Medical History form which asks:
  

and

• Question QI04 from the "DETERMINE" Nutrition Checklist which reads:

While I somewhat understand why my dentist asks whether I regularly consume more than one or two alcoholic beverages a day in the context of other medications or substances I might routinely take, I do not understand why the Dane County (Wisconsin) Area Agency on Aging asks me the question and stores my answer in my personally identifiable electronic health record that the State Bureau on Aging and Disability Resources (BADR) maintains.

At the bottom of the form, Dane County says:

For many years, up until January 2008, Dane County used the "DETERMINE" form mainly as an educational tool and while recording a total score did not store specific answers in a person's electronic record. While the practice of maintaining personal health information in an electronic database that was unknown to the vast majority of participants in the congregate meal program (was in my opinion) in violation of state and federal privacy laws, recording specific answers to questions that participants believed were self scoring lists that they could share with a professional health care provider was an even greater egregious violation of individuals' privacy rights.

The expectation of privacy is still conveyed by Dane County on their Web site as no indication is given that registering for participation at a congregate meal site will generate an electronic health record and that specific answers will be recorded. Participants in the congregate meal program are not told that their nutritional health is being assessed and reassessed on an annual basis without their informed consent. The practice by Dane County is the worst that I have ever encountered.