[Consent and confidentiality in occupational health practice: balance between legal requirements and ethical values].

INTRODUCTION

The recently introduced Italian law on the protection of workers' health states that the occupational health physician (competent physician) is required to act according to the Code of Ethics of the International Commission on Occupational Health (ICOH).

AIM

This paper aims at examining the articles of legislative decree 81/2008 dealing with informed consent and confidentiality compared with the corresponding points of the ICOH Ethics Code.

RESULTS

Analysis of the relationship between articles 25 and 39 (informed consent) and 18, 20 and 39 (confidentiality) of the decree shows that there are some points of disagreement between the legal requirements and the Code of Ethics, in particular concerning prescribed health surveillance, consent based on appropriate information (points 8, 10 and 12 of the Code) and some aspects of confidentiality (points 10, 20, 21, 22 and 23 of the Code).

CONCLUSION

Although the competent physician is required to act according to the law, the decisional process could lead to a violation of workers' autonomy.