Recent developments in Nordic health law.

The five Nordic countries--Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden--share a considerable part of their cultural and historical heritage. They have collaborated closely in their development of legislation during most of the 20th century and are also all traditional welfare states, but nevertheless demonstrate a surprising degree of variety in the area of health law. The Nordic Network for Research in Biomedical Law was founded in 2006, with the aim to promote intra-disciplinary collaboration and stimulate comparative Nordic research in this field of law.

The ageing populations of Europe--implications for health systems and patients' rights.

Europe is facing a trend of demographic and social change that is likely to have a significant impact on our health systems in the coming decades. The primary concerns are related to the double challenge of population ageing and population decline. These changes will result in a shrinking workforce to handle the steadily increasing healthcare needs of the very old, who will constitute the fastest growing segment of the population.

Public trust and privacy in shared electronic health records.

The development of information and communication technology in health care, also called eHealth, is expected to improve patient safety and facilitate more efficient use of limited resources. The introduction of electronic health records (EHRs) can make possible immediate, even automatic transfer of patient data, for health care as well as other purposes, across any kind of institutional, regional or national border. Data can thus be shared and used more effectively for quality assurance, disease surveillance, public health monitoring and research.