A new bill, proposed by State Sen. Jeff Brandes (R-St. Petersburg), would allow Floridians to donate their medical records to science, much like they can donate their organs, after death.
“We think we’ll be the first in the country to do this,” Brandes said, “and we think we’ll save thousands of lives by letting physicians … cull though data (and) scientists discover new things.”
The bill proposes the Agency for Health Care Administration and the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles develop and implement an “opt-in” donor program for medical records upon death, much like the state’s organ donation program.
With more than 20 million residents in Florida, even a small percentage of participants could mean incredible amounts of new data available to doctors and researchers. [READ MORE/WATCH THE VIDEO HERE]