In reply: At the heart of much debate on patient consent for access to electronic data are two conflicting desires — many consumers wish to minimise access to their record, and many clinicians have genuine concerns that such restriction may lead to patient harm. In some cases, privacy is paramount (eg, psychiatric or sexual health history). In others, such as emergency presentations, patient wellbeing may override such concerns. This has led many to conclude that there is no “one size fits all” model for e-consent.1
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- Centre for Health Informatics, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW.
- 1. Coiera E, Clarke R. e-Consent: the design and implementation of consumer consent mechanisms in an electronic environment. J Am Med Inform Assoc 2004; 11: 129-140. <eMJA full text>
- 2. Westbrook J, Coiera E, Gosling AS. Do online information retrieval systems help experienced clinicians answer clinical questions? J Am Med Inform Assoc 2005; 12: 315-321.