• Erika Mora and G Franco.
• Cattedra e Scuola di Specializzazione di Medicina del lavoro, Università di Modena e Reggio Emilia.
• Med Lav. 2010 May 1; 101 (3): 163-8.

IntroductionThe recently introduced Italian law on the protection of workers' health states that the occupational health physician (competent physician) is required to act according to the Code of Ethics of the International Commission on Occupational Health (ICOH).AimThis paper aims at examining the articles of legislative decree 81/2008 dealing with informed consent and confidentiality compared with the corresponding points of the ICOH Ethics Code.ResultsAnalysis of the relationship between 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 Code of Ethics, in particular concerning prescribed health surveillance, consent based on appropriate information (points 8, 10 and 12 of the Code) and some aspects of confidentiality (points 10, 20, 21, 22 and 23 of the Code).ConclusionAlthough the competent physician is required to act according to the law, the decisional process could lead to a violation of workers' autonomy.

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