Data rights are the missing pillar for modernizing consent in medicine

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution Access options Access Nature and 54 other Nature Portfolio journals Get Nature+, our best-value online-access subscription $32.99 / 30 days cancel any time Subscribe to this journal Receive 12 print issues and online access $259.00 per year only $21.58 per issue Buy this article - Purchase on SpringerLink - Instant access to the full article PDF. USD 39.95 Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout References Washington et al. v. Sutter Health et al. No. 4:2026cv03012 (US District Court for the Northern District of California, 2026). Saucedo v. Sharp Healthcare. No. 25CU063632C (Superior Court of California, County of San Diego, 2025). Tierney, A. A. et al. NEJM Catal. Innov. Care Deliv. https://doi.org/10.1056/CAT.25.0040 (2025). Topaz, M., Peltonen, L. M. & Zhang, Z. npj Digit. Med. 8, 569 (2025). Mello, M. M., Char, D. & Xu, S. H. JAMA 334, 767–770 (2025). American Medical Association. Opinion 2.1.1 Informed Consent. AMA Code of Medical Ethics (AMA, 2026). Kawamleh, S. AI Ethics 3, 901–916 (2023). Gupta, R. et al. JAMA Netw. Open 6, e231305 (2023). European Parliament and Council of the European Union. General Data Protection Regulation, Article 5 (Official Journal of the European Union, 2016). Green, F. M. & Friedman, N. C. New York Law Journal https://go.nature.com/4xIGxbl (2026). Author information Authors and Affiliations Corresponding author Ethics declarations Competing interest The author declares no competing interests. Rights and permissions About this article Cite this article Salem, N.S. Data rights are the missing pillar for modernizing consent in medicine. Nat Med (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-026-04506-3 Published: Version of record: DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-026-04506-3