‘PATIENT CONFIDENTIALITY' part 2

  Patient Confidentiality and the Importance of Protecting It

As mentioned before, when a patient entrusted his/her health to a health care provider, the patient is not just asking for treatment or cure, he/she is also expecting for someone to talk to. Therefore, during the course of treatment or a consultation, a patient will reveal number of information regardless the relevance on his/her presenting complaint. All of this gained information either written or verbally are confidential and that means no clinician has the right to divulge those information to another person without the agreement of the patient.

The importance of confidentiality in health care are based on principles such as the respect for patient autonomy, consequentialist, implied promise and obviously virtue ethics. 

The respect for patient autonomy principle emphasizes the patient’s right to have control his/her life. It implies that a person has the right mostly to decide who should access to personal information about himself and this every individual’s right is applicable in other disciplines beside medicine. Undoubtedly, in the above case, the patient did not give his permission in revealing his details to other staffs, let alone to other patients

Every action has consequences. In the principle of consequentialist, the seriousness of breaching the confidentiality depends on the aftermath of the action. Let's say that for whatever reason, the patient eventually discovers that his doctor has breached the confidentiality, this will lead to numerous consequences.  The patient is upset; he loses trust in that doctor plus other health care providers and later becomes reluctant to seek any other medical practitioners resulting in his health deterioration.

A doctor-patient relationship is reflecting an implied contract or promise between two individuals. Patients decided to share their thoughts, feelings and sometimes reveal their secrets are actually another responsibility to a health care provider.  Though most of these promises are not written, all patient are expecting that their doctors to treat information confidentially.  As for Mr M’s case, besides revealing the information to others, it seemed like it has been another issue or gossip of a day. 

Virtue ethics is another principle of the importance of patient confidentiality. As a health care provider, showing empathy, good attitude, professionalism and respect to others are the acclaimed manners for centuries. It is not just the medications, indeed the kind of soothing virtuous manners that helps patients in some way. Once the particular doctor revealed other patient’s information to another patient, the doctor is in fact conveying a dreadful impression of a clinician.  Author has experienced the circumstance as well when a general practitioner disclosed another patient’s story and though it was undeniably enjoyable, eventually causing disrespect and loss of trust.