Online video sharing and patients’ privacy

doi:10.1136/bmj.b3991

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Heiman F L Wertheim, head of microbiology research laboratory1,
Jeremy Farrar, director1,
Peter Horby, head of Hanoi unit1

¹Oxford University Clinical Research Unit, Vietnam

hwertheim{at}oucru.org

The ability to post any video on the internet with little regulation is corroding recently won principles of patients’ rights

In 18th century London a popular form of entertainment was to tour the Bethlem asylum for a penny to look at the “lunatics.” Similar forms of voyeuristic entertainment have resurfaced and are alive and well today and available free on the internet. While preparing a scientific manuscript on rabies we came across several disturbing videos posted on YouTube showing footage of patients with rabies. In one video of a child with rabies is embedded the text “CrazyShit.com” and “This shit’s for you!” Some of the accompanying comments, posted by viewers, are equally distressing: “Funniest shit i seen all week”; “He’s screaming at a glass of water. IT’S FUNNY!!!”; “Fuck the family and fuck u! u tree huggin hippie. Don’t click on the video if u think its wrong.” These comments are clearly extremely distasteful and …