Professional codes for electronic HC record protection: ethical, legal, economic and structural issues

Guidelines for the protection of electronic health care data frequently stipulate that national laws should be followed. This stipulation is subjected to analysis and critique. It is argued that it commits the fallacy of nationality, and suggests that appropriately constructed ethical guidelines for the protection of electronic health care data must focus solely on fundamental ethical principles as these are applied to the types of situations in which such electronic data are generated, used and ultimately disposed of. The relevance of economic considerations is also be addressed. An attempt is made to sketch a general ethical framework within which data protection guidelines could be situated.