Personal health data: patient consent in information age.

In this paper we report on findings related to treatment of patient consent in various circumstances and geographic domains; explore transfer of health data between custodians and geo-political entities; and emphasize importance of educating general public about issues related to handling health data. A specific set of questions about consent/legislation and related issues in the Canada, the USA and the EU are addressed in an attempt to answer them systematically. This comparison identifies similarities and differences along a set of dimensions.