Informed Consent Policy

Authors must handle individual data and information, such as those obtained through a doctor-patient relationship, with utmost confidentiality and discretion. As such, authors are typically required to obtain written informed consent from any patients described in case reports or who are the subject of photographs. However, in some cases, reports may be published without explicit consent if the following three conditions are met:

• The report is highly significant to public health or is important in some other way;
• Obtaining consent is unusually difficult; and
• A reasonable person would not object to publication.