Confidentiality
·
Hippocratic Oath: “Whatsoever
things I see or hear concerning the life of men, in my attendance on the sick
or even apart there from, which ought not to be noticed abroad, I will keep
silence thereon, counting such things to be as sacred secrets”
·
NZMA code of ethics:
o Protects patients secrets even after death
o Maintain confidence unless patient consents or required by law
·
Benefits:
o Access to information for the patient‟s benefit
o Autonomy: patient control over information about them, respect for
patient‟s choice
o Dignity
o Consequences: positive reinforcement of trust
·
Legal requirements:
o Health Information Privacy Code
§ Rule 10 (1): information obtained for one purpose cannot use that
information for any other purpose
§ Rule 11(1): An agency must not disclose information unless…
o Code of Health and Disability Service Consumer‟s Rights: Every consumer
has the right to have his or her privacy respected
·
Legal exceptions:
o With patient‟s consent
o Within the team of doctors caring for the patient. Not disclosed to students unless anonymised
o Statutory e.g. Notifiable diseases, Land Transport Safety Authority
(Driver‟s licence)
o Disclosure in the public interest: Health Information Privacy Code
allows disclose to prevent a
o „serious and imminent threat‟
o Common Law: e.g. Tarasoff v Regents of the University of California
case, Duncan v Medical
o Practitioners‟ Disciplinary Committee
·
Special cases:
o Children: does the child have the understanding and maturity to form a relationship of confidence
o Incompetent adults: duty of confidentiality remains. The Health
Information Privacy Code allows a representative of the patient to authorise
disclosure
o The dead: Patient‟s representative must authorise disclosure of
information.
·
Collection of health information
discusses (Privacy code?):
o Purpose e.g. necessary for a lawful purpose
o Source: usually individual concerned
o Collection: reasonable steps to ensure individuals aware of purposes,
recipients and rights of access & correction
o Manner: e.g. overly intrusive
o Storage and security
o Rights of access
o Right for correction
o Reasonable steps to ensure accuracy
o Retention: not kept longer than required
o Use limited to purpose for which it was collected
o Limits on disclosure – breaching confidentiality:
§ Necessary to prevent/lessen serious and imminent threat to life/safety
§ Disclosure will lessen or prevent risk
§ Minimal information released compatible with preventing harm
§ Patient must be identified to reduce this risk
§ There is no better alternative
§ Recipient of the information can do something about it
Related Topics
Privacy Policy, Terms and Conditions, DMCA Policy and Compliant
Copyright © 2018-2024 BrainKart.com; All Rights Reserved. Developed by Therithal info, Chennai.