A snap decision

ByMr Jerard Ross

Published08 November 2016

Sharing photographs of a patient's condition leads to problems for an FY1.

You need a patient's explicit consent to take a picture; this applies whether or not they are identifiable.

Although individual pieces of information might not breach confidentiality, the sum of information published online might be enough to identify a patient.

Mr Jerard Ross

Medico-legal adviser

Jerard graduated from the University of Aberdeen in 1994. He then moved into surgical training in Edinburgh before completing his MD at the University of Manchester. Before joining the MDU he was a consultant in adult and paediatric neurosurgery in Edinburgh where he was the surgeon to the Scottish National Paediatric Epilepsy Programme.