Confidentiality governing surgical research practice

Healthy subjects or patients volunteering to participate in trials expect that their privacy and autonomy will be protected. The aim of this article is to highlight issues related to confidentiality governing surgical research practice. A search of the current relevant literature was undertaken. Consent to the disclosure of any information should be sought wherever practicable, but disclosures should be kept to the minimum necessary. The data should be made anonymous where unidentifiable data serve the purpose. Where the previously described actions are not practicable for various reasons, data may be disclosed for research, provided participants have been given information about access to their records and about their right to object. Personal information may only be disclosed without individual's consent when it is for the protection of the public interest, but this has proved too ambiguous a rubric to be useful without proper clarification. Hampering of noncommercial medical research should also be avoided, as it may cause serious damage to public health. Confidentiality in research is an important issue in the protection of the participants' rights to privacy and autonomy, and it should be considered in the design of each study. Breach of confidentiality is legally justifiable for the sake of the public interest, but proper clarification of the law is required in order to avoid hampering noncommercial medical research that is vital for the public health.