Consenso e confidenzialità nella pratica professionale del medico competente: tra requisiti normativi e valori etici.

Introduction. The recently introduced Italian law on the protection of workers’ health states that the occupational health physician (competent doctor) is required to act according to the Ethics Code of the International Commission on Occupational Health (ICOH).Aim. This paper aims at examining the articles of legislative decree 81/2008 dealing with informed consent and confidentiality in comparison with the consistent points of the ICOH Ethics Code.Results. The analysis of the relationship among the articles 25 and 39 (informed consent) and 18, 20 and 39 (confidentiality) of the decree shows that there are some points of disagreement between the legal requirements and the Ethics Code, in particular about the prescribed health surveillance, the consent based on appropriate information (points 8, 10 e 12 of the Code) and some aspects of confidentiality (points 10, 20, 21, 22 e 23 of the Code).Conclusion. Although the competent doctor is required to act according to the law, the decisional process could lead to a violation of workers' autonomy.