tissue-banking booklet - Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

12TISSUE BANKINGHow Will My Privacy BeProtected?Federal laws and regulations protect theprivacy and confidentiality of your medical information.The administrator of the tissue bank must submit aplan explaining how your private information will beprotected. A committee at your hospital, known asthe Institutional Review Board, or IRB, will reviewthe plan to make sure that it strictly follows theselaws and regulations.The plan must explain what information will bestored in the bank and how it will be kept confidential,how tissues will becollected and linked toconfidential information,and how the bank willprevent unauthor izedaccess to its computerfiles. So the risk of yourprivacy being violated isvery small.“There’s always a finite risk that information will get disclosed. But the benefitof being able to connect her type of tumor with the type of treatment that’ssuccessful not only benefits her, if she has a recurrence, but all those otherpeople down the road.”—Robin, parent of pediatric patient