Patients discuss private matters with their doctors with the implicit understanding that the information exchanged is private. In reality, more and more people are gaining access to these confidential medical records and using the information in ways you never intended.

These days, insurance companies, credit bureaus and the like have assembled sophisticated databases that contain loads of private information. Unbeknownst to you, this information may be shared with other insurers, potential employers, marketing firms—and sometimes sold to anyone who will pay for it.

Worst of all, information you divulged to help your doctor help you may be used with just the opposite result, here are

four true horror stories…

A company changes its insurance policy to limit coverage for AIDS-related problems after learning that an employee has tested HIV-positive.

A man is denied life insurance after telling his doctor he was feeling “down” because he feared his company might be the victim of a hostile takeover.

A woman is fired after her employer learns she needs a kidney transplant.

A hospital employee uses a computer to access the phone numbers of teenage female patients, then calls them up and sexually harasses them.

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