is it unethical to write case report on patient that isnt mine

by Kian Larkin 6 min read

The ethics of case reports - PubMed Central (PMC)

21 hours ago Case reports can be conceptualized as a formulized description of a particular individual’s history with a disease presentation and progress . The impetus to write and publish a case report rests on the insight that a particular case offers with respect to issues relating to diagnosis, therapy, evolution, pathogenesis or outcome. >> Go To The Portal


What should a physician do if a patient reports an incompetent/unethical?

Physicians who receive reports of alleged incompetent or unethical conduct should: (f) Evaluate the reported information critically and objectively. (g) Hold the matter in confidence until it is resolved. (h) Ensure that identified deficiencies are remedied or reported to other appropriate authorities for action.

What ethical issues arise from writing a case report?

Ethical issues that arise from writing a case report are basically twofold: informed consent and confidentiality. Since the postwar Nuremberg trials, which exposed hideous human experimental abuses and resulted in the formulation of the Nuremberg Code, informed consent has been the cornerstone of human research ethics (3).

Should we publish a case report on non-accidental injuries in children?

The authors believe the case report should be published to raises awareness among clinicians about potential symptoms of non-accidental injury in children, even though they cannot provide consent from the child or the child’s guardians to publish. The editorial staff of the journal however has some concerns.

What is a medical case report?

What is a case report? A medical case report, also known as a case study, is a detailed description of a clinical encounter with a patient.

Do you need permission to write a case report?

Although not technically required, especially if the case report does not include any identifying information, some journals require informed consent for all case reports before publishing. The CARE guidelines recommend obtaining informed consent AND the patient's perspective on the treatment/outcome (if possible).

Do case reports require ethical approval?

Case reports and studies intended for quality improvement are often considered not research and do not need IRB approval. Nevertheless, there should be some processes of clearing those studies with respect to ethical handling of patients and related data.

Who can write a case report?

In the scientific and medical world, case studies and case reports are written and read by doctors, nurses, medical researchers, post graduate students of medicine.

Do you need IRB approval to write a case report?

Yes. Under HIPAA, a case report is an activity to develop information to be shared for medical/educational purposes. Although the use of protected health information to prepare the paper does not require IRB review, the author of a case report must comply with HIPAA.

How do you write an ethics report?

Make sure to follow these general tips to compose a great paper on ethics.Write about the topic you care.Add a strong thesis statement.Make sure there is introduction, main body, and conclusion.Be specific and avoid wordiness.Provide evidence and counterarguments.Avoid contradicting points of view.More items...•

What is ethics in the medical field?

Health care ethics (aka “medical ethics” or “bioethics”), at its simplest, is a set of moral principles, beliefs and values that guide us in making choices about medical care. At the core of health care ethics is our sense of right and wrong and our beliefs about rights we possess and duties we owe others.

Can medical students write case reports?

Case reports are written with the goal of sharing information for medical, scientific, or educational purposes. They often serve as medical or even undergraduate students' first experience with medical writing and they provide a solid foundation for manuscript preparation and publication.

Does case report count as research?

The case report is a research design where an unexpected or novel occurrence is described in a detailed report of findings, clinical course, and prognosis of an individual patient, which might be, but not mandatory, accompanied by a review of the literature of other reported cases.

How do you write a case history of a patient?

III. Patient case presentationDescribe the case in a narrative form.Provide patient demographics (age, sex, height, weight, race, occupation).Avoid patient identifiers (date of birth, initials).Describe the patient's complaint.List the patient's present illness.List the patient's medical history.More items...•

What qualifies as a case report?

A case report is a detailed report of the symptoms, signs, diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up of an individual patient. Case reports usually describe an unusual or novel occurrence and as such, remain one of the cornerstones of medical progress and provide many new ideas in medicine.

What is the difference between a case study and a case report?

Case studies are widely used in psychology to provide insight into unusual conditions. A case study, also known as a case report, is an in depth or intensive study of a single individual or specific group, while a case series is a grouping of similar case studies / case reports together.

Can I publish a case study?

Submit your case study through your chosen channel's online submission site, find author support and understand your next steps to publish your case study.

Most recent answer

Case reports can be used for data reference, only concern for case reports as per my understanding is to maintain confidentiality of identity, project only specific concern information in report and informed concern from authority as well as client is mandatory to avoid any future claim.

Popular Answers (1)

You should acquire informed consent by those involved in the study, even if you believe that the anonymity and confidentiality of the patients is being ensured. Research on anonymised data sets have shown that by combining the anonymised data with other open information sources, then deanonymisation is often possible.

Similar questions and discussions

Clearing ethical issues is one of the important steps in bio-medical research/clinical research. What are the issues to be concerned while writting or publishing a case report?

When was the report "Man is fallible" released?

The Institute of Medicine (IOM) released a report in 1999 entitled "Man is fallible: create a safe health system" in relation to the incidence of medical errors in United States, and consequently, initiated widespread international change in the field of patient safety (2).

Is knowing the truth a right?

It should be considered that knowing the truth is one of the basic rights of patients and their family members. According to similar studies, explaining the error to the patients could be a stressful situation combined with intense emotional reactions from patient/family members or the care team.

Is patient safety a threat?

Despite increased attention toward the quality of health care services, there are still numerous threats to patient safety in healthcare settings. Since patient safety is multidimensional and grounded in ethical and legal imperatives, both ethical and legal challenges should be taken into account.

What should I do after writing a case report?

Once you have written a draft of the case report, you should seek feedback on your writing, from experts in the field if possible, or from those who have written case reports before .

Why is it important to write a case report?

the reason you would go to the trouble of writing one, is that the case is sufficiently unique, rare or interesting such that other medical professionals will learn something from it.

What is required to submit a case report?

Journals often have specific requirements for publishing case reports, which could include a requirement for informed consent, a letter or statement from the IRB and other things.

Does CHM have funding for publication?

It is best practice to check the journal's Info for Authors section or Author Center to determine what the cost is to publish. CHM does NOT have funds to support publication costs, so this is an important step if you do not want to pay out of pocket for publishing.

Is it free to publish a case report?

Be aware that it may not be free to publish your case report. Many journals charge publication fees. Of note, many open access journals charge author fees of thousands of dollars. Other journals have smaller page charges (i.e. $60 per page), and still others will publish for free, with an "open access option".

Do you need informed consent for a case report?

Although not technically required, especially if the case report does not include any identifying information, some journals require informed consent for all case reports. The CARE guidelines recommend obtaining informed consent AND the patient's perspective on the treatment/outcome (if possible).

Do journals have informed consent?

Journals may have their own informed consent form that they would like you to use, so please look for this when selecting a journal. Once you've identified the case, selected an appropriate journal (s), and considered informed consent, you can collect the required information to write the case report.

What was the case report submitted to journal X?

A case report was submitted to journal X reporting on a child who had been admitted to hospital suffering an injury, which the doctors suspected resulted from a deliberate cigarette burn.

Can a child be identified in a hospital?

It is possible that the child could be identified, because the location of the hospital is given in the authors’ affiliations, the injuries are clearly detailed and the parents have been convicted of child abuse (it is not known if there was any press coverage of this case).

Can a case report be published without consent?

Some members of the Forum argued that a paper containing identifiable details of a patient cannot be published without consent unless the patient is dead or the patient has given informed consent to publication. In this case, consent cannot be obtained and therefore the presumption should be that the case report should not be published. The Forum advised that the editor should consider not only the ethical and legal issues involved in deciding to publish, but also the data protection issues. In terms of whether the pubic health value of publication should overturn considerations of consent and confidentiality, the general consensus of the Forum was that it is unlikely that a single case report is so medically important that it must be published, and that if he or she wishes to use a public interest defence, the editor must be prepared to defend their decision in the event of a complaint by the patient or a regulatory body.

Code of Medical Ethics Opinion 9.4.2

Medicine has a long tradition of self-regulation, based on physicians’ enduring commitment to safeguard the welfare of patients and the trust of the public.

CME course: Physician wellness & professional conduct

This e-learning module will help physicians identify and understand their ethical obligations to maintain their own wellness and help fellow colleagues who may be impaired.

Read more opinions about this topic

Visit the Ethics main page to access additional Opinions, the Principles of Medical Ethics and more information about the Code of Medical Ethics.