Læknablaðið : fylgirit - 01.09.1977, Síða 34

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THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the 27th World Medical Assembly re-
affirn the vital irnportance of maintaining medical secrecy not as
a privilege for the doctor, but to protect the privacy of the in-
dividual as the basis for the confidential relation between the
patient and his doctor; and ask the United Nations, representing
the people of the world to give to the medical profession the
needed help and to show ways for securing this fundamental right
for the individual human being;"
b) Computers in Medicine:
"BE IT RESOLVED that the 27th World Medical Assembly
1. draw the attention of the peoples of the world to the great
advances and advantages resulting from the use of computers and
electronic data processing in the field of health, especially in
patient care and epidemiology;
2. request all national medical associations to take all possible
steps in their countries to assure that medical secrecy, for the
sake of the patient, will be guaranteed to the same degree in the
future as in the past;
3. request member countries of W.M.A. to reject all attempts .
having as a goal legislation authorizing any procedures to elec-
tronic data processing which could endanger or undermine the right
of the patient for medical secrecy;
4. express the strong opinion that medical data banks should be
available only to the medical profession and should not, there-
fore, be linked to other central data banks; and
5. request Council to prepare documents about the existing pos-
sibilities of safeguarding legally and technically the confi-
dential nature of stored medical data."
DISCRIMINATION IN MEDICINE
The following Motion on the subject of Discrimination in Medicine
was adopted by the World Medical Association in 1973:-
"WHEREAS: The Declaration of Geneva, adopted and published by The
World Medical Association, states, inter alia, that, I (a Medical
Practitioner) WILL NOT PERMIT considerations of religion, natio-
ality, race, party politics or social standing to intervene be-
tween my duty and my patient;
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED by the 27th World Medical Assembly meet-
ing in Munich, that The World Medical Association vehemently con-
demns colour, political and religious discrimination of any form
in the training of medical practitioners and in the practice of
medicine and in the provision of health service for the peoples
of the world."