It used to be that health and medical organizations had archaic data-handling practices. Think hard copies. But most long ago made the switch to the obvious alternative: electronic data. But have we made postive gains from this move? Well, the answer depends, but really, not really — at least when it comes to data security.

The lead-off paragraphs of a recent article online by ABC News prove the point elegantly, highlighting the all-too-familiar scenario of the laptop computer that has gone missing to thieves and possibly contains identifying data records on an untold number of patients. The lamentable truth is that, given these circumstances, stored electronic data on thousands of patients will probably find itself in the hands of the identity thief formerly known as laptop thief. Webmobs, whose ranks are rank with the presence of identity thieves, might find the victims’ information on what’s called an Internet relay chat, where the aforementioned laptop thieves (probably) might have uploaded the data in exchange for money.

The point is that electronic data is at once easy to track and easy to steal — and, when stolen, often more readily usable to thieves than data on hard copy is. In other words, lose the electronic data, and the probability of it falling into the hands of smart thieves who know how to use it increases, and the speed at which this can happen accelerates.

The red herring such realities highlight is the concern that patients’ privacy is therefore under siege and needs to be restored by government, or by companies, or by someone else. Privacy hasn’t existed for a long time, however, and it’s not coming back; it’s too late for that, and the emergence of electronic data keeping in health care does nothing but to amplify this. The real problem, as ABC News’ article notes, is countless labs, medical facilities and other organzations handle data in countless ways — and most of these entities find themselves with patients’ data at some point or other. Few standards govern these entitites’ actions, and chaos ensues.

What does chaos look like? It looks like a whole host of breaches we see in the news. Whenever a laptop computer containing patients’ data records goes missing, that’s chaos. Whenever a data tape gets lost in transit, that’s chaos. Whenever a hacker exposes a fundamental flaw in some health care organization’s firewall and makes out with thousands of unique data records, that’s chaos.

The prevailing problem, of course, is that electronic data records are portable. This can be a benefit to patients and health care providers alike. But the need then to secure that data becomes a paramount concern. Simple, affordable laptop tracking technology can help, but not enough organizations are employing it. Why?

Well, it could be that the some of the debate that electronic medical data inspires is a diversion.