Difficulties in giving fully informed consent

doi:10.1136/bmj.326.7397.1039/a

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Ruth G Jepson, research fellow (ruth.jepson@ed.ac.uk),
Roma Robertson, research assistant

Department of General Practice, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH8 9DX

EDITOR—Willison et el report that most patients would prefer the opportunity to provide consent before anonymised information from their electronic medical records was used for research.1 They point out there are major logistical challenges to obtaining such informed consent, especially in primary care, where ethical concerns prohibit researchers from contacting patients directly.2

Gaining informed consent from each individual in a …