Recognition of case histories by a third party

A case report of psittacosis during pregnancy resulting in death of the child was published in this journal. The item was taken up by a newspaper, whereupon the owners of the birds that had been implicated realised that they were being described. They now felt responsible for the tragedy and complained. Anonymising patient information will never prevent recognition by the patient himself or herself. When publishing a patient history, the authors must be aware that third parties may be involved as well.