Emergency Privacy Measures

In the past, only the security and confidentiality of data in medical information systems was a contentious issue, and privacy was not a real issue. Lately, much has been done to preserve the privacy of information of the individual, especially when this resulted in giving the individual more control over his/her personal information. The problem that we are faced with now, is the following: From a privacy viewpoint, in the case of an emergency or other unforeseen situation, what has to be done when private and sensitive information has to be acquired immediately, or in some situations has to be disclosed without the consent of the individual(s) concerned? This paper will identify such situations and propose emergency measures that will apply in such circumstances, while still attempting to achieve maximum privacy on behalf of the individual, where applicable.