The view of the BMJ's ethics committee

摘要

We explain here the response of the BMfs ethics committee to the case study submitted by Isaacs and colleagues and make some broader points about the need for patient consent to publish case studies. We conclude that the "public interest",criterion for publication justifiably has a high threshold, which was not met by this paper. Yet we recognise that policy formation in this contested area can be difficult and that further debate is required.The publication of case studies in medical journals provides a rich narrative of clinical practice with valuable lessons for other practitioners and has extended ethical debates, suggested policy changes, and led to changes in clinical practice. Yet consideration must be given to the way in which clinical case studies are used, particularly in relation to respecting patient confidentiality.