The Role Of Confidentiality In Doctor Patient Relationships
Ethics are an inseparable part of health care. Well being of the patient is impossible without all the parameters of health care being applied; the medical practices to cure the ailment and ethical measures for mental well being.
Confidentiality is the basis for good ethical practice. Its concept is highly debatable. The debate is over shoul the patients private and sensitive information be shared between medical staff. By definition, confidentiality protects patient information from the public and the information being abused. Confidentiality of information promotes a trustworthy relationship between the patient and health care staff. Divulging of the information is also undergoing debate as to which information and when. Some prominent authors in the world of ethics have argued that the information should be passed around the immediate medical staff responsible for curing the patient. Utilitarians argue that ’’Confidentiality should be maintained if it has the best outcome, but allows a breach if it serves the best purpose. ’’
My argument is that confidentiality should be maintained but not by any means neccessary. For instance if a patient is infected with HIV or other bloodborne diseases people that need to know, like medical staff and people that came into contact with that bodily fluid, should be informed. Although if no harm can come to anyone confidentialiy has to be maintained as it promotes trust and it keeps the patient from harm, thus promoting the patients physical and mental health.
According to the rights for patient protection, confidentiality is extremely important. The patient reserves his right to have autonomy over his sensitive information and of which information and when can it be passed and onto whom. Patients usually have certain expectance that their information is not going to be passed around. The international council for nurses recently adopted an international code of ethics. In the code there is a statement: “the nurse holds personal information in confidence and uses her judgement in sharing it”.
By maintaining confidentiality, the medical staff builds a trust with its patients. There are certain expectancies regarding confidentiality: for one the information shall not be divulged to somebody else besides when highly necessary, and without patient consent and also the medical staff shall not discuss the problem in open spaces such as corridors. Good practice of these procedures is essential for trust.
Contrasting the previous statements in this text, there is a possibility of not passing crucial information regarding health care to other medical staff, impeding their teamwork and possibly even resulting in a bad outcome regarding patient health. My stance on this issue is that all information regarding a certain patient should be, either verbally or in text, passed around the immediate medical care team, so that there can be no impeding.
Confidentiality also serves against labeling and discrimination of the patient. With confidentiality being maintained, the patient is being protected from discrimination, that can result in stigmatisation. For instance if a patient suffers from a mental illness or HIV he or she can be discriminated against based on their current disease. They can end up being shunned by society which either furthers the mental illness or causes depression. Though sometimes this sharing can be favorable for the patient or the greater good. One example is; providing a cancer patients history of disease somebody could take the expenses on himself. Albeit, someone could take expenses on himself, an argument can be made that this violates patient dignity, which I don’t agree with.
