Immutability Is Not Trust: Recourse, Reversibility, and the Patient at the End of the Chain
Nuno Galante Valério · 2026
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Description
Nuno Valério argues that fixed blockchain records do not by themselves make health data trustworthy, in a 2026 essay. Sellers pitch chains as proof that medical records are sound. A record that cannot change proves only that no one altered it after writing.
Valério notes that such proof says nothing about whether the record was right, who answers for it, or how a patient can fight a wrong call. Drug regulators solved this long ago: add the fix, sign it, stamp the time, and keep the first entry in view. European privacy and AI rules also assume records can change. Trust, he argues, needs recourse, not just permanence.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | Nuno Galante Valério |
|---|---|
| YEAR | 2026 |
| COLLECTION | PAPERS |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 8 KB |
| VERSION | 1.0 |
| LICENSE | CC BY 4.0 |
| RIGHTS | CC BY |
| SOURCE | Europe PMC |