Skip Navigation

This Article
Right arrow Full Text Freely available
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in ISI Web of Science
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Search for citing articles in:
ISI Web of Science (5)
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Lawlor, D. A
Right arrow Articles by Stone, T.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Lawlor, D. A
Right arrow Articles by Stone, T.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

International Journal of Epidemiology 2001;30:1221-1225
© International Epidemiological Association 2001

Editorial

Public health and data protection: an inevitable collision or potential for a meeting of minds?

Debbie A Lawlora and Tracey Stoneb

a Department of Social Medicine, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK.
b Centre for Ethics in Medicine, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK.

DA Lawlor, Department of Social Medicine, University of Bristol, Canynge Hall, Whiteladies Road, Bristol BS8 2PR, UK. E-mail: d.a.lawlor@bristol.ac.uk

‘Public health is the arena in which clinical medicine, epidemiology, management, politics, and the law all meet—or perhaps more accurately, collide.‘1

This quote from a publication on data protection surprisingly, but not uniquely omits ‘the public’ from the public health arena. Recently it has been suggested that changes in data protection legislation may jeopardize public health practice and research. In this paper we summarize current data protection legislation and guidance and discuss the implications of these for public health practice. In addition we discuss recent changes to legislation and guidance in relation to established medical ethical principles and argue for a greater involvement of the public in the debates that will inform development of legislation in this area.

Legislation and Guidance

European Data Protection Act 19982
This sets out legal requirements for the use and handling of personal data for all member states of the European Union. A requirement of the act is that informed consent is obtained . . . [Full Text of this Article]

National standards to protect patients' personal medical records—US legislation3
Health and Social Care Bill—UK4
Declaration of Helsinki5
UK General Medical Council guidance
The House of Lords Select Committee on Science and Technology report on human genetic databases—UK10
Case law
Implications for Public Health Practice and Research

Research quality
Public health surveillance
Global public health
Data Protection Legislation and Medical Ethics

The Way Forward—Increasing Public Awareness and Involvement in the Debate

References


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 J. Med. EthicsHome page
W Baird, R Jackson, H Ford, N Evangelou, M Busby, P Bull, and J Zajicek
Holding personal information in a disease-specific register: the perspectives of people with multiple sclerosis and professionals on consent and access
J. Med. Ethics, February 1, 2009; 35(2): 92 - 96.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Palliat MedHome page
G. Ewing, M. Rogers, S. Barclay, J. McCabe, A. Martin, and C. Todd
Recruiting patients into a primary care based study of palliative care: why is it so difficult?
Palliative Medicine, July 1, 2004; 18(5): 452 - 459.
[Abstract] [PDF]

Home page
 J. Epidemiol. Community HealthHome page
D A Lawlor, A R Ness, A M Cope, A Davis, P Insall, and C Riddoch
The challenges of evaluating environmental interventions to increase population levels of physical activity: the case of the UK National Cycle Network
J Epidemiol Community Health, February 1, 2003; 57(2): 96 - 101.
[Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 J. Epidemiol. Community HealthHome page
J C Wyatt and J L Y Liu
Basic concepts in medical informatics
J Epidemiol Community Health, November 1, 2002; 56(11): 808 - 812.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]