Medical Confidentiality Flashcards
what is confidentiality?
Confidential - Adj; intended to be kept secret
Confidentiality - Noun; the state of keeping or being kept secret or private
what is the The Hippocratic Oath?
- Written by Hippocrates in about 450 BC
- Described the basic ethics of medical practice and laid down a moral code of conduct for doctors
- The code does contain certain sentiments which might be considered outdated
- Many people think that doctors still swear the Hippocratic Oath – it is not compulsory!
- The British Medical Association (BMA) drafted a new Hippocratic Oath for consideration by the World Medical Association in 1997 but it was not accepted and there is still no one single modern accepted version
- In the UK, the closest to a modern Hippocratic Oath are the core values and principles set by the GMC, laid out as the duties of a doctor under the title “Good Medical Practice”
The Hippocratic Oath is a a solemn promise of what?
- Of solidarity with teachers and other physicians
- Of beneficence (to do good or avoid evil) and non-maleficence (‘do no harm’) towards patients. (In fact the well-known “first do no harm” phrase does not feature in the classical Hippocratic Oath.)
- Not to assist suicide or abortion
- To leave surgery to surgeons
- Not to harm, especially not to seduce patients
- To maintain confidentiality and never to gossip
The code lays heavy emphasis on what?
confidentiality and respect for patients
The Classical version rather vividly states: “I will abstain from … the seduction of females, or males, of freemen or slaves” whereas modern versions say “I will be honest, respectful and compassionate
whata re the four domains of GMC: Good Medical Practice?
- Knowledge, skills and performance
- Safety and quality
- Communication, partnership and teamwork
- Maintaining trust
What comes under Domain 4. Maintaining trust of GMC: Good Medical Practice?
Show respect for patients
Treat patients as individuals and respect their dignity
Treat patients politely and considerately
Respect patients’ right to confidentiality
Treat patients and colleagues fairly and without discrimination
Act with honesty and integrity
Never abuse your patients’ trust in you or the public’s trust in the profession
in medical terms, why is trust important?
trust is an essential part of the doctor-patient relationship and professional confidentiality (secrecy) is central to this
What may happen if patients dont trust doctors?
Patients may avoid seeking medical help, or may under-report symptoms, if they think their personal information will be disclosed by doctors without consent, or without the chance to have some control over the timing or amount of information shared
Doctors are under both _____ and _____ duties to protect patients’ personal information from improper __________
But appropriate _________ sharing is an essential part of the provision of safe and effective ____
Patients may be put at risk if those who are providing their care do not have access to _______, _______ and __-__-____ information about them
ethical and legal
disclosure
information
care
relevant, accurate and up-to-date information
What happens if confidentiality is breached?
Medical confidentiality is based on the law of contract and equity
Breach of confidentiality constitutes Breach of Contract
If the patient can demonstrate the he has suffered harm in the civil courts, reparative damages will be awarded against the doctor
what is the common law?
Information acquired by doctors in their professional capacity will generally be confidential under the common law. This duty is derived from a series of court judgments, which have established the principle that information given or obtained in confidence should not be used or disclosed further except in certain circumstances. This means a doctor must not disclose confidential information, unless there is a legal basis for doing so.
What is the The New General Data Protection Regulations?
The GDPR is based around six data protection principles and provides a range of rights for individuals.
The GDPR defines personal data as:
‘any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person (‘data subject’); an identifiable natural person is one who can be identified, directly or indirectly, in particular by reference to an identifier such as a name, an identification number, location data, an online identifier or to one or more factors specific to the physical, physiological, genetic, mental, economic, cultural or social identity of that natural person’
GDPR - The data protection principles state that personal data must:
Be processed lawfully, fairly and in a transparent manner
Be processed for specified, explicit and legitimate purposes and not in any manner incompatible with those purposes
Be adequate, relevant and limited to what is necessary in relation to the purposes
Be accurate and up to date
Must not be kept for longer than is necessary
Be secure
The advice in this guidance is underpinned by what following eight principles?
a) Use the minimum necessary personal information
b) Manage and protect information
c) Be aware of your responsibilities
d) Comply with the law
e) Share relevant information for direct care
f) Ask for explicit consent
g) Tell patients
h) Support patients to access their information
GDPR for doctors:
Where special category data are being used, at least one of the conditions in Article 9 must also be met. Information on a patient’s health record is likely to be special category data for the purposes of the GDPR. The conditions most likely to be relevant in medical practice are that:
The data subject has given explicit consent (Article 9(2)(a))
The processing is necessary to protect the vital interests of the data subject or another person in a case where the data subject is physically or legally incapable of giving consent (Article 9(2)(c))
The processing is necessary for reasons of substantial public interest (Article 9(2)(g))
The processing is necessary for reasons of public interest in the area of public health (Article 9(2)(i)
The processing is necessary for archiving purposes in the public interest, scientific or historical research purposes or statistical purposes (Article 9(2)(j))
