Chapter 7

Question 1

privacy

Answer 1

a form of personal autonomy - the ability to control the information that others have about us

• the right to privacy is a basic human right
• connected with personal integrity

Question 2

confidentiality

Answer 2

a mechanism by which a person’s right to privacy is recognized and honored

• individuals should exercise control over certain info that pertains to them
• this info is their moral property
• a promise based on a trust relationship

Question 3

positive right

Answer 3

privacy involves a person’s prerogative to control access to and distribution of information him/herself

Question 4

negative right

Answer 4

the right of noninterference: the right to be left alone - basic pre-requisite of self-determination and moral agency

Question 5

duty to warn

Answer 5

“duty to warn” 3rd parties at risk of injury by pt - established in Tarasoff v. Regents of the Univ of California

exception to usual rule of privacy and confidentiality is justified when a specifically articulated threat concerning an identifiable 3rd party is communicated by client to therapist

initiate when:

1. violence is foreseeable
2. clinician has enough control over pt to prevent violence (i.e. pt is under institutional care)