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The eHealth Ethics Initiative

Toronto, Ontario

http://www.ihealthcoalition.org/ethics/ethics.html The Internet Healthcare Coalition is an online organization that "aims to develop and promote ethical principles relevant to the fast expanding area of online, interactive healthcare communications, through the consensus of industry, academic, government, patients, and consumer leaders."

The primary goals of this effort are to develop an "eHealth Code of Ethics", to develop a strategy to implement this code, and to educate the public about how the code can be used "as a guide to reliable Internet health information and services". The first goal of the effort has now been achieved.

The Code of Ethics, available as a 9 page PDF document, covers such issues as honesty, accountability, quality of information, conflicts of interest, informed consent and privacy.

The eHealth Code of Ethics represents remarkable and important effort by a diverse group of stakeholders. It was developed with open, public commentary, and has the potential to do a great deal of positive things for Internet users seeking quality health information. I expect that the eHealth Code of Ethics will eventually become an extremely useful basis for accrediting health websites.

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