Health information, privacy, confidentiality and ethics

Electronic patient records are becoming tologically reified entities that play the role of epistemic patient analogues in information space. The traditional property-model of patient records is therefore no longer appropriate. A shift in paradigm is required. This paper suggests a new paradigm, examines its ethical implications and explores ways in which these could be reflected in legal and regulatory mechanisms. Special attention is paid to privacy, security and access relative to the so-called 'fair information principles'.