Patient Confidentiality and the Intensivist

Litigation and Doctor-Patient Confidentiality.

When a patient sues a healthcare practitioner with regard to their care, the healthcare records are an important part of the evidence used in the case. Litigation is usually heard in open court in the presence of the public and information contained within the records can be aired in that public forum. The issue of patient confidentiality and litigation arose in the case of Kadian v Richards [2...

The Caldicott report and patient confidentiality.

ECMO and the intensivist

Sir, the influenza pandemic of 2009/2010 has brought pulmonary extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMo) once again to the attention of those involved in intensive care. Specialized conferences are now common and topics such as “the best techniques for blood vessel cannulation” give the impression that ECMo is a well known and well handled technique by most clinicians. Despite the achievements...

confidentiality in patient electronic data exchange

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Protecting patient confidentiality in hospitals.

As new methods of electronic data storage and distribution appear in hospitals, new challenges in protecting confidentiality have emerged. At the same time, demands for 'seamless' care and the desire to share information between clinicians are motivating hospitals to relax barriers to the transfer of patient information. Increasing numbers of users at multiple sites compound the difficulty of e...