Contextual Anonymization for Secondary Use of Big Data in Biomedical Research: Proposal for an Anonymization Matrix.

Background: The current law on anonymization sets the same standard across all situations, which poses a problem for biomedical research.

Objective: We propose a matrix for setting different standards, which is responsive to context and public expectations.

Methods: The law and ethics applicable to anonymization were reviewed in a scoping study.

A critique of the regulation of data science in healthcare research in the European Union.

The EU offers a suitable milieu for the comparison and harmonisation of healthcare across different languages, cultures, and jurisdictions (albeit with a supranational legal framework), which could provide improvements in healthcare standards across the bloc. There are specific ethico-legal issues with the use of data in healthcare research that mandate a different approach from other forms of research. The use of healthcare data over a long period of time is similar to the use of tissue in biobanks.

The Effect of the General Data Protection Regulation on Medical Research.

Background: The enactment of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) will impact on European data science. Particular concerns relating to consent requirements that would severely restrict medical data research have been raised.

Objective: Our objective is to explain the changes in data protection laws that apply to medical research and to discuss their potential impact.

Sleep in a legal context: The role of the expert witness.

Sleep experts are called to assist the jury in deciding the mental state of the accused at the time of their alleged criminal behaviour. This task is difficult as the literature on many sleep disorders, particularly sleepwalking and other parasomnias, is still largely a matter of case reports and case series. The probative value of much of the evidence given is not known.

Automatism and driving offences.

Automatism is a rarely used defence, but it is particularly used for driving offences because many are strict liability offences. Medical evidence is almost always crucial to argue the defence, and it is important to understand the bars that limit the use of automatism so that the important medical issues can be identified. The issue of prior fault is an important public safeguard to ensure that reasonable precautions are taken to prevent accidents.

Medicolegal aspects of complex behaviours arising from the sleep period: a review and guide for the practising sleep physician.

This review is aimed at summarizing the current state of knowledge regarding parasomnias, which have been implicated in medicolegal cases as well as providing guidance to those working within common-law jurisdictions regarding the technical aspects of the law. Sleepwalking and sexsomnia as a defence are being raised more frequently in criminal cases and there has been public debate on their validity. Unfortunately, expert evidence on forensic sleep disorders continues to be heavily opinion-based with the potential for miscarriages of justice seen in recent highly publicized cases.