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Frank Frizelle
Medical images and case reports are considered by many to be interesting and educational. Most readers are clinicians so clinical-based problems are easy to engage. Many journals have a long history of including them such as the New England Journal of Medicine clinical problem solving or their previous "Case reports for Massachusetts General Hospital". Other journals have more recently returned to including them and, though usually not cited and thus may have a discouraging effect of a journals impact factor, they are recognised as being amongst the readers' favourite parts of journals (just behind obituaries).
The issue of consent for publication and the patients right to privacy however needs to be married with this interest especially as most journals now use a web-based medium in part or whole.
The ICMJE (which the NZMJ is a member) Uniformed Requirements state in regard to this issue (http://www.icmje.org/#privacy):
...Patients have a right to privacy that should not be violated without informed consent. Identifying information, including names, initials, or hospital numbers, should not be published in written descriptions, photographs, or pedigrees unless the information is essential for scientific purposes and the patient (or parent or guardian) gives written informed consent for publication.
Informed consent for this purpose requires that an identifiable patient be shown the manuscript to be published. Authors should disclose to these patients whether any potential identifiable material might be available via the Internet as well as in print after publication. Patient consent should be written and archived either with the journal, the authors, or both, as dictated by local regulations or laws. Applicable laws vary from locale to locale, and journals should establish their own policies with legal guidance.
Nonessential identifying details should be omitted. Informed consent should be obtained if there is any doubt that anonymity can be maintained. For example, masking...