Consent to the publication of patient information: Incompetent patients may pose a problem

doi:10.1136/bmj.329.7471.916

BMJ 2004;329:916 (16 October), doi:10.1136/bmj.329.7471.916

Letter

Consent to the publication of patient information

Incompetent patients may pose a problem

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

EDITOR—The BMJ ethics committee's revised policy on consentto the publication of patient information is laudable,¹ butan important matter remains overlooked: publishing cases involvingincompetent patients. Much can be learnt from these cases; beit highlighting clinical difficulties or drawing attention toneglected moral issues. But the guidelines as written may makeit impossible to publish them.

Imagine I wished to publish a case involving a traceable adultwith learning disability who had requested genetic counselling.Turning to the guidelines, I would be required to obtain herconsent before publication. However, obtaining written informedconsent from adults with questionable competence could be difficultor exploitative, as they may lack the capacity to understandthe implications of consent to publication. Furthermore, theexceptions listed under point 3 do not apply. Merely anonymisingher information would be ethically problematic, as could draftinga fictional case "inspired" by the clinical . . . [Full text of this article]