Abstract
All patients have the right to privacy and the reasonable expectation that the confidentiality of their personal information will be rigorously maintained by all healthcare professionals. The protection of privacy and confidentiality is both an ethical obligation and a legal obligation. Nevertheless they are not absolute obligations and must often be considered in the light of other obligations. In this chapter three categories of protections, uses and disclosures are each considered:
• protections, uses, and disclosures of patient information for their healthcare (Section 11.3.2);
• protections, uses, and disclosures of patient information for healthcare purposes not directly related to their healthcare (Section 11.3.3); and
• obligations and justifications for the disclosure of patient identifiable information for purposes not related to their healthcare (Section 11.3.4).
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsNotes
- 1.
This chapter on confidentiality is grounded on the European Standards on Confidentiality and Privacy in Healthcare (2006) developed through the work of the EuroSOCAP Project (QRLT-2002-00771). The Standards were written following detailed consideration of the needs of vulnerable patients – particularly children and young people, older people, homeless people, people with mental health problems, prisoners, people with an intellectual disability, and people who lack decision-making capacity.
- 2.
See also Chapters 5 and 8.
- 3.
See also Chapter 8.
- 4.
See also Chapter 9.
- 5.
See also Chapter 22.
- 6.
This may be valid especially in epidemiologic research: see Chapter 26.
Abbreviations
- ECHR:
-
Council of Europe’s Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (ETS no 005, 1950 as amended)
- ECtHR:
-
European Court of Human Rights
- ETS:
-
European Treaty Series
- EU:
-
European Union
- EuroSOCAP:
-
European Standards in Privacy and Confidentiality in Healthcare
- UK:
-
United Kingdom
References
Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (2000/C 364/01) http://www.europarl.europa.eu/charter/default_en.htm
Council of Europe ‘Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Dignity of the Human Being with Regard to the Application of Biology and Medicine: Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine’ (No. 164) (1997) http://conventions.coe.int/treaty/EN/Treaties/Html/164.htm
Council of Europe ‘Convention for the Protection of Individuals with regard to automatic processing of personal data’ (No. 108) (1981) http://conventions.coe.int/treaty/EN/Treaties/Html/108.htm
Council of Europe’s Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (ECHR) (ETS no 005, 1950 as amended) http://conventions.coe.int/Treaty/en/Treaties/Html/005.htm
Directive 95/46/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 October 1995 on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data http://eurlex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX: 31995L0046:EN:NOT
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1966) http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/a_ccpr.htm
Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) http://www.un.org/Overview/rights.html
Universal Declaration on Bioethics and Human Rights (2005) http://portal.unesco.org/shs/en/ev.php-URL_ID=1883&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2010 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
McClelland, R. (2010). Confidentiality. In: Helmchen, H., Sartorius, N. (eds) Ethics in Psychiatry. International Library of Ethics, Law, and the New Medicine, vol 45. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-8721-8_11
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-8721-8_11
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-90-481-8720-1
Online ISBN: 978-90-481-8721-8
eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)