Consent and publication

Medical man starts his practice with ethical and legal obligation in the form of consent. Much has changed in the past few decades. Patients are now given more information, are alerted to the risks, and are able to discuss choices. The final choice made by the patient is based on an understanding of the issue and consent is given. Consent must be based on an ‘intelligent understanding’ of a responsible patient or authorized legal party. Information about a patient that a doctor acquires during a professional relationship is confidential. This principle of confidentiality affects the publication in medical journals of any material pertaining to a particular patient or research subject. Thus, patient's right to privacy should not be infringed without informed consent.

Even in this modern world, medical men fail at occasions to take authorized consent and subsequently entangle themselves with legal hurdles. Within the broad context of informed consent, here we explore the particular issue of consent for publication of material that emerges from the doctor-patient relationship.