The Politics of Tracking Patients in American Medicine and Healthcare

Summary

The rise of data surveillance in health and medicine in the United States, where digitized health data systems increasingly serve political and financial interests rather than patient care is an urgent concern to social science scholars. Drawing from science, technology and society studies (STS), medical sociology, and critical data studies, it explores how patients, especially those from marginalized communities, are tracked, criminalized, and punished through their electronic health records (EHRs), biometric data, and consumer-generated health information. The article analyzes the role of powerful actors, including federal agencies, data brokers, and surveillance tech firms like Palantir, in using health data to criminally surveil and target under authoritarian governance. It highlights the erosion of privacy protections under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), the commodification of patient data, and the emergence of weaponized data that threaten patient autonomy. Through case studies on reproductive health, immigration enforcement, and genomic surveillance, the article reveals how surveillance infrastructures reconfigure patients into perpetual risks and as criminals. It concludes by advocating for data justice and radical caretaking as forms of resistance against technocratic control.