Renate Gertz

Confidentiality of personal health information used for research

Researchers must balance the quest for better health for all against the need to respect the privacy of research participants. What needs to be done to ensure best practice?

Dolly for dinner? Assessing commercial and regulatory trends in cloned livestock

As cloning technologies become more widely established, will products enter the food chain sooner than regulatory agencies and the public might be prepared for?

Developments in Medical Law in the United Kingdom in 2005 and 2006

This article highlights and summarises the key developments in medical law in the jurisdictions of the United Kingdom in 2005 and to April 2006. Topics are mental health and mental capacity, data protection, freedom of information and the impact on health data, the Human Tissue Act, genetic research databanks, Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act--Review of the legislation, consultations and related case law, developments in embryo and embryonic stem cell research, clinical trials and human subject research, medical futility, and physician assisted dying.

Freedom of information and healthcare data--the first UK appeal: Common Services Agency v the Scottish Information Commissioner.

On the 1st of December 2006, the Court of Session in Edinburgh issued the first decision on Freedom of Information and health data regarding a request for information on incidences of childhood leukemia, in the range of 0 - 14 years, by year and census ward from 1990 to 2003 for the Dumfries and Galloway postal areas. The case, which provides an example for the collision course between the Freedom of Information and Data Protection regime, had been anticipated as a landmark decision, however, due to several problems and inconsistencies it sadly failed to meet those expectations.