Open AccessProtecting human research from an invasion of privacy: the unintended results of the Commonwealth Privacy Act 1988
Author(s) -
BentleyCooper Josephine E.
Publication year - 1991
Publication title -
australian journal of public health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.946
H-Index - 76
eISSN - 1753-6405
pISSN - 1035-7319
DOI - 10.1111/j.1753-6405.1991.tb00338.x
Subject(s) - agency (philosophy) , commonwealth , scrutiny , interim , information privacy , political science , legislation , privacy policy , privacy law , personally identifiable information , informed consent , public relations , law , medicine , sociology , alternative medicine , social science , pathology
In accordance with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth), interim guidelines for the protection of privacy in the conduct of medical research have been issued by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) with the approval of the Privacy Commissioner. The guidelines are intended to ensure that the privacy of the individual is not interfered with when a researcher seeks the release of personal information held by a Commonwealth agency, or when a Commonwealth agency conducts medical research, and to ensure that the conduct of medical research is not inhibited by the privacy legislation. However, the procedures established by the guidelines and the responsibilities placed upon researchers and institutional ethics committees could themselves have the effect of inhibiting research. In considering amendment, NHMRC and the Privacy Commissioner are urged to produce final guidelines which do not act as the straw to break the back of the current system of institutional ethics committees, which seeks to ensure proper ethical scrutiny and the facilitation of human research.