Patient Confidentiality Essay Sample
Keeping patients' information confidential and secure is one of the patients' rights in medical health care facilities. Medical physicians need to observe this to improve the relationship between them and the patient. Despite the importance of keeping patients' information confidential, there are times when breaking this is unavoidable and legal for public safety. The patients' confidentiality is breached if the information disclosed puts the lives of the larger public at risk; thus, although breaking patients' confidentiality is illegal, there are times when breaching this is helpful to the public and or saves the lives of many.
The patients' medical information is not only the health information that the patient provides during the medical examination or test but may also include other details such as family background information, the perception of patients about life, and their habits. Some of this information may affect the patients negatively if it is disclosed to the public. The relationship between the patients and the physician is built depending on the trust issue between them. For a patient to tell all their information physically, the physician must prove that he will not disclose it to another person. Patients may share some information that may be shameful and even stressful when he wants to receive a better diagnosis from the doctor, and thus there should be a mutual trust between the doctor and the patient.
Sometimes the patient may conceal some helpful information if he learns that the medical person has not observed the confidentiality of the data. Other times the patient may fail to come for later check-in this situation of understanding that this information was disclosed and shared with the public. The patients' hiding of some data prevents them from obtaining the best diagnosis. Electronic records are facilitating the breach of this confidentiality of patient information (Fernández et al., 550). The medical personnel need to improve their system to avoid this information. According to the physician's legal ethic, the confidentiality of the patients' information is a requirement for medical personnel. Discloser of information puts the patient's life at risk, and thus it is the role of medics to prevent this.
Patients' information that brings social stigma from society should not be disclosed. When a patient share with the physician that he has HIV or HBS disclosing the information to the public will make the patient be separated and this may stigmatize him, resulting in death or even suicide. Stigmatization may even prevent the patient from recovering from the sickness diagnosed and result in serious matters (Price et al.,40). When a patient shares information that he was raped with a doctor and the doctor discloses it, the patient may feel unacceptable in society and never share his other information with any other medic again. And this prevents the patient from receiving better treatment in the future.
Teenagers and adolescents have the same rights regarding privacy. Privacy plays a significant role in the relationship with the doctor, and lack of confidentiality may be an obstacle to receiving treatment. According to Iran constitution, children above 18 years are regarded as having the consent of the information they share with the medics. And thus, their data should be kept confidential. When it comes to children below 18 years of age and whose degree of maturity and consent in decision-making is unknown, disclosing their information to parents is their best option (Noroozi et al,879. Thus, keeping of confidentiality of their information is challenging. Therefore, the ethics guideline for a child's confidentiality is based on their age and parents' support.
For adolescents who involvement in high-risk behaviors, confidentiality is believed to be because of their deaths. These adolescents reporting their behaviors and sharing their information with the medics might need confidentiality. These adolescents involved in high-risk behaviors fear medics who may breach this law of privacy, limiting them from obtaining medical care. Thus the provision of confidentiality is necessary for these risk behaviors adolescents. Due to privacy, adolescent involvement in contraceptives may not be disclosed to their parents, essential for them. An increase in confidentiality in healthcare prevents parents from getting that information on their children's behaviors, which is dangerous and has harmful consequences.
There are no boundaries that are set on the keeping of patients' privacy. Also, patients are not aware of their rights to the confidentiality of information. Some situations limit medical care workers from keeping this information disclosed to the public. In ethics, some consider privacy to benefit the patients, while others believe the effect and the risk this privacy has to other third parties. For a physician to decide whether to observe privacy, he should weigh the weight between benefiting the patients or benefiting society. The condition that has more weight should be followed.
The degree of privacy depends on the type of sickness that the patient is diagnosed. When a patient has tested positive for HPV, there will be no need to disclose this to her husband. But when the patients test positive for HIV or HBS and the heath of her partner is at risk, the confidentiality act should be broken and her partner informed. But sometimes, the patient is first given priority to tell his partner before the medics. If a patient dies of a particular disease, the cause of the patients' death should be written in the patient's certificate to help know their family medical history. This history will help treat related family relatives in case of having similar symptoms as those of the patient.
In other cases, patient confidentiality is broken when the patient needs help, and only this information can benefit. Sometimes, the doctor has no option other than to disclose the patients' information when only this information can save their lives (Blightman et al,.54). When patients are diagnosed with a particular sickness and Medicare has no treatment for it, telling the family the type of sickness they seek for further treatment elsewhere is essential.
The patient's information should be disclosed to experts if infected with infectious or contagious diseases. Infectious diseases are diseases that are easily transferred from one person to another. The contagious disease begins from a single patient, and when care is taken, it might spread and contact the whole population. The information should be taken to relevant government officials, with the patient being taken for isolation. During this, some information about the patient should not be disclosed to the general public without his consent. Policies are then laid down to protect the public from contracting infectious diseases.
Patients' information may be provided to the family and relatives or any third party when disclosing the information to the next of kin when the patient is very ill. Next of kin is not well defined by the law as it may be a friend, relative, or parent. The information may be shared if the patient will disclose this information since it can avoid conflict when the patient dies. Also, patient information may be disclosed if required in judicial systems. Doctors need to know the police are not given the mandate to ask for this information, but only the court has the powers (Nieuwenhuis, 138). Sometimes, the doctor may be charged with failing to cooperate with the police to assist in the information. Also, suppose the patient has been involved in an accident and is ventilated in the intensive care unit. In that case, the doctor is allowed to do alcohol test samples if the police need them without the patient's consent. The selection is lawfully required, but the result remains confidential.
Patient confidentiality is necessary for a medical setting as it ensures there is a good relationship between the doctor and the patients. Still, there are sometimes when breaking this confidentiality is necessary. There are advantages and disadvantages of this confidentiality in Medicare. In case of serious crimes, the doctor may break these principles and share the information. When a patient suffers from a contagious disease, this information is disclosed to the general public to control the disease. Although confidentiality is important, it encourages adolescents to continue involving themselves in risky behaviors without the parent's consent. It is also crucial for patients to be taught their rights concerning confidentiality.
