Bradburn N M
Harris Graduate School of Public Policy Studies, University of Chicago, USA.
J Legal Stud. 2001 Jun;30(2):687-701. doi: 10.1086/342031.
Medical records are increasingly kept in electronic form. The existence of large medical databases raises new questions about privacy and control over that information. When records exist in a form that can easily be shared with others, there are legitimate privacy concerns. This paper argues that this fear is not properly a privacy issue, but rather concerns the viability of social norms that govern the doctor-patient relationship and the use of medical information that is obtained within that relationship. When medical information is used for research purposes, the information is transformed into data elements and is no longer about the individuals. Information obtained either in the ordinary course of providing medical care or in the course of conducting research studies for which individuals have given their informed consent does not require further consent to be used as data in research files as long as it is not individually identifiable.
医疗记录越来越多地以电子形式保存。大型医疗数据库的存在引发了有关隐私以及对该信息控制权的新问题。当记录以易于与他人共享的形式存在时，就会产生合理的隐私担忧。本文认为，这种担忧并非真正的隐私问题，而是关乎规范医患关系以及在这种关系中所获取的医疗信息使用的社会规范的可行性。当医疗信息用于研究目的时，该信息会转化为数据元素，不再针对个体。在提供医疗护理的正常过程中或在开展个体已给予知情同意的研究过程中所获取的信息，只要无法识别个体身份，就无需进一步同意即可用作研究文件中的数据。
