The National Cancer Center has launched a scheme under which it will ask all new patients to given written consent for their blood, tissues or medical records to be used for research, officials at the Tokyo hospital said Saturday.
The center used to utilize blood, tissues and records without patients' consent because it did not believe they would mind, the officials said.
It introduced the new system at the beginning of this year. It believes transparency is important to ensure trust between medical workers and patients because the public is becoming increasingly aware of patients' rights and the need to protect privacy.