Information sharing and Ethics

Dr. Maher D. Fuad Fuad

MAHSA University College
Faculty of medicine
Lecturer
Department of community medicine

Rights to obtain information.
Screening of information.
Sharing of information.
Moral issues of usage of internet.
Contents
The concept of information is closely related to
notions of constraint, communication, control, data,
form, instruction, knowledge, meaning, mental
stimulus, pattern, perception, and representation.
What is information?
Individuals.
Records and documents.
Books.
Journals and monographs.
Personal diaries.
Newspaper and magazines.
Computer data base.
INTERNET.
Source of information
Why do we share informations ?
Construction of a complete picture of disease
progression and management of clinical care
Includes:
Patient demographics,
Medical and family history.
Drug therapy regimens.
Laboratory data and clinical outcome.
Processes of care.
Patient compliance and adherence.
Patient information
Personal information of a private or sensitive nature;
Information that is not already lawfully in the public
domain or readily available from another public
source.
Information that has been shared in circumstances
where the person giving the information could
reasonably expect that it would not be shared with
others.
Confidential information
Identify how much information to share.
Distinguish fact from opinion.
Ensure that you are giving the right information to
the right person.
Ensure you are sharing the information securely.
Inform the person that the information has been
shared if they were not aware of this and it would not
create or increase risk of harm.
Share information
7 GOL DE N
RUL RE S
1. Remember that the Data
Protection Act is not a barrier to
sharing information but provides a
framework to ensure that personal
information about living persons is
shared appropriately.

2. Be open and honest with the
person (and/or their family where
appropriate) from the outset about
why, what, how and with whom
information will, or could be shared,
and seek their agreement, unless it
is unsafe or inappropriate to do so.
3. Seek advice if you are in any doubt, without disclosing the
identity of the person where possible.

4. Share with consent where appropriate and, where
possible, respect the wishes of those who do not consent to
share confidential information. You may still share
information without consent if, in your judgement, that lack
of consent can be overridden in the public interest. You will
need to base your judgement on the facts of the case.
5. Consider safety and well-being: Base your information sharing
decisions on considerations of the safety and well-being of the person
and others who may be affected by their actions.

6. Necessary, proportionate, relevant, accurate, timely and secure:
Ensure that the information you share is necessary for the purpose for
which you are sharing it, is shared only with those people who need to
have it, is accurate and up-to-date, is shared in a timely fashion, and is
shared securely.

7. Keep a record of your decision and the reasons for it whether it is
to share information or not. If you decide to share, then record what
you have shared, with whom and for what purpose.
Is currently considered an important media.
Enables users to interact across the network has
provided opportunities for retrieval of hypermedia
information in an easy and effective way.
Information systems raises new ethical questions
because they create opportunities for:
Intensive social changes, threatening existing distributions
of power, money, rights, and obligations.
New kind of crimes.
The internet
World wide web (WWW) multimedia capabilities,
An important media to access and acquire information
as well as
Interact using diverse type types of visual
representations such as images, maps, diagrams and
graphs which are as easy to implement as text
supported by graphical interface, sound, video,
animation and so forth..
when I took office, only high energy physicists had ever heard of
what is called the World Wide Web
Now even my cat has its own page.
Bill Clinton
Former US President
World Internet Users
The Internet blurs traditional categories like "professional versus
"amateur," "published" versus "unpublished," and "public" versus
"private."

Existing rules for the ethical conduct of human subjects research that
rely on these categories are thus difficult to extend to this new
medium.
Health portals are most popular sites visited by users.
Exponential growth of health information on Internet
Possibilities of finding unauthenticated, inaccurate, misleading and at
times dangerous information on Internet
Ethical Guidelines can ensure that people take full benefit of Internet
to improve their health without risk
Need for Ethical Issues
Internet Healthcare Coalition
(http://www.ihealthcoalition.org/ethics/code0524.pdf)
eHealth Ethics Initiative introduced an International Code
of Ethics for health care sites and services on the Internet.
Hi-Ethics Alliance (www.hiethics .org)
AMA - American Medical Association (www.amaassn.org)
HON - Health on the Net Foundation (www.hon.ch)
Guidelines ........ .
Information about the owner of the site and purpose of the
site should be clearly indicated
Information should be truthful and unbiased
Information should be accurate, easy to understand and up to
date
Consent from participants must be obtained before publishing
any personal data
Provide meaningful opportunity for users to give feedback to
the site
Copyright notice should be pasted on the site
Ethical issues in disseminating
information on the Internet
Major issues raised by information systems include:
Information rights and obligations.
Property rights and obligations.
Accountability and control.
System quality.
Quality of life.

http://www.govemomet.co.ukllinkAttachments/lnformation sharing guidance for practitioners and managers
.pdf
Five moral dimensions of information age
http://quantifactus.wcupa.edu/mis601/chapter4.ppt#257,
Collectively, the benefits that flow from responsible sharing of
personal information contribute significantly to an increase in
opportunity of the patients in getting a better health care
services no matter where they are.

Anyone can go almost anywhere and obtain medicine or
health advice far from home
Thank you