Privacy and confidentiality: The doctor’s obligations

Abstract

At the heart of the relationship of trust between a medical practitioner and their patient, is the obligation on the part of the practitioner to keep confidentialwhat they learn in the course of providing professional services and to refrain from generating collateral benefit from what they have learned. The long-standing obligation of doctor-patient confidentiality has been significantly modified to allow, and on some occasions to mandate, practitioners to provide information to facilitate patients,’ third parties,’ and the general community’s health and safety. This chapter reviews such obligations and the legal context in which they have been tested.