We ask all patients receiving outpatient or inpatient hospital treatment in Switzerland to complete a consent form for the "Further use of health-related data and samples for research purposes" - often referred to as a general consent form. For children under the age of 14, parents give their consent, while adolescents aged 14 and over can decide for themselves whether to participate.

Please note that your decision whether or not to consent has no influence on the quality of your medical treatment and care in our hospital. It is important to us that you make a conscious decision and that this is documented.

During an outpatient or inpatient hospital stay, samples (urine, blood, tissue) are taken for diagnostic or treatment purposes. These are normally disposed of in the laboratory after analysis. If the consent form is signed with "Yes",

• The remaining samples and relevant medical data (such as age and examination results) are released for medical research projects within our hospital. This enables our researchers to gain important insights that can contribute to improving diagnosis and treatment methods.
• Please grant our hospital permission to use both existing and future data and samples for medical research projects. This regulation applies equally to your medical data and samples taken.
• Allows us to share data and samples for collaborations with other institutions - including other hospitals, universities and pharmaceutical companies - while always adhering to the strictest data protection standards.

Your decision, regardless of whether you agree or not, will be noted in your digital patient file as soon as we have received your completed form.

Data protection is a top priority for us. Data is treated in strict confidence in accordance with the Swiss Data Protection Act. Only authorized persons are permitted to view them. These persons are either involved in your treatment or the ethics committee has given them permission to do so (e.g. study physicians, study coordinators). The data will also be encrypted. Encryption means that so-called encryption codes are used instead of personal details (surname, first name, date of birth or AHV number). These are numbers and/or letters (e.g. als850 or ZG0002, etc.). This means that nobody can trace your personal details.

Your consent is voluntary and can be revoked at any time without giving reasons. To do so, we simply require a newly completed form with the new decision.