Consent to the publication of patient information: Seeking consent is morally essential

doi:10.1136/bmj.329.7471.916-b

BMJ 2004;329:916-917 (16 October), doi:10.1136/bmj.329.7471.916-b

Letter

Consent to the publication of patient information

Seeking consent is morally essential

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

EDITOR—Singer writes: "For this reason, you must obtainexpress consent from patients before publishing personal informationabout them as individuals in media to which the public has access,for example in journals or text books, whether or not you believethe patient can be identified. Express consent must thereforebe sought to the publication of, for example, case-historiesabout, or photographs of, patients.

"However, the GMC does admit of exceptions in the case of patientswho have died."¹

About three years ago I found that my son's rare heart malformationswere written up in a cardiology surgery journal. As I come froma medical family, I had no regrets that it had been done. However,it was immediately identifiable to me because he had an absentright subclavian artery, an interrupted aortic arch, ventricularseptal defect, patent ductus arteriosus, atrial septal defect.I knew it was him, but . . . [Full text of this article]

Fiona M Woollard, personal assistant

York YO24 1EP woollard@mac.com