Informed Consent Policy

Individuals' data and information must be treated with the utmost confidence and discretion (for instance, data collected through a doctor-patient relationship). Therefore, it is nearly always important for authors to have the patients depicted in case reports and individuals who are the subject of images to provide them their written informed consent. If a report satisfies all three of the following criteria, however—that it is of great significance to public health (or is significant in some other way); that consent would be unusually difficult to obtain; and that a reasonable person would be unlikely to object to publication—it may be published without explicit consent.