The principal investigator is considering whether he should discontinue the required protocol of discarding portions of the data due to the future possibility of identifying these infants in case a treatment or cure could be found for their ailments in the future and argue that case.

These are some possible outcomes:

The principal investigator discusses this issues with members of his own research team.

The principal investigator contacts members of the IRB to discuss this matter.

The principal investigator feels that he needs to pursue advice from members of the research community investigating similar research topics.