Google on Tuesday endorsed the Declaration of Health Data Rights, a set of principles designed to promote consumer empowerment, privacy protection, and data portability.The principles state that people should have the right to their own health data, the right to know the source of that data, the right to records of that data in the form that it is stored -- paper or electronic, and the right to share that data.

If only those rights included the right to health care. But that's another battle.

Google is trying to help move the medical world into the age of electronic records in order to make its online health records service, Google Health, more useful.

It's a valiant effort, but it's going to be a long haul. I have wonder whether anyone really cares about Google Health outside of Google and a few die-hard early adopters? I mean people love Gmail, but Google Health? I don't know anyone who uses it. And I briefly considered giving it a try.

Having just completed my annual physical on Monday, I took the opportunity to inquire about whether my medical records were available in electronic form. My physician's assistant smiled and shook her head. The doctor, she said, doesn't believe in electronic records. And it would be expensive to convert from paper, she added.

My physician is in his 70s. I expect he's leaving that Internet stuff to the next generation. There are probably a lot of doctors who feel that way, not to mention patients.

I suppose I could switch physicians if I really cared about electronic records, but switching doctors is even more painful than switching Internet service providers or mobile telecom providers. Under the insurance I have, there's a two week window every year during which I could change physicians. During that period, I usually don't think about electronic health records.

Maybe that's where Google should focus its energy: Just as phone companies help you switch from competitors, Google could cut through insurance red tape to help consumers switch to physicians who want to communicate electronically and provide electronic records. I'm guessing however that's a thankless job Google wouldn't want.

Frankly, given frequency of data breaches over the past few years, paper seems like the safest place for medical information at the moment.