Online medical records offer convenience, may limit privacy

A variety of companies are developing and launching sites, most of them free, that allow patients to keep personal health records. They can include everything from medical histories to test results, doctors' notes and prescriptions. Patients can input their records themselves or have them added by doctors' offices and other medical facilities that keep compatible electronic records online. But because the field is so new, standards and legislation still are under development and privacy advocates worry about sensitive records falling into the wrong hands.