Arguments Against Confidentiality

Confidentiality: Acknowledgement of the process of keeping trusted information private by the clinician, while distinguishing the reason for breaking one’s promise in keeping information secret; through written and verbal communication.

Some of our service users have profound learning disabilities and their level of comprehension and understanding is very limited, however they communicate constantly.

Confidentiality is a concept of vast importance for professionals in the medical field. It is a professional obligation in this field and is considered to be an ethical concept that falls in line with integrity, compassion, veracity, charity, and fidelity as explained in both the International Council of Nurses Code for Nurses (1973) and the American Nurses Association Code of Ethics (1985). However, in today’s ever growing world of technology and demand for information, challenges continue to arise that force doctors and nurses to reexamine virtues such as confidentiality.

Confidentiality means that information or anything said to you if kept safe and private and only people that need to know the information do. This may include personal details which show address, phone numbers, and medical information. Information on child development, like observation sheets. Finical information, how the children's parents pay for the children to be in the nursery.

Confidentiality means keeping information given by or about an individual in the course of a professional relationship secure and safe from others. There are eight principals of good practice and anyone processing personal information must comply with them.

The two provisions from the Nursing Code of Ethics that were violated are Provision 2 and 3. Provision 2 states “the nurse’s primary commitment is to the patient, whether an individual, family, group, community, or population” (Brown, Lachman & Swanson, 2015). Provision 2 focuses on “the nurse’s obligation to assure the primacy of the patient’s interests regardless of conflicts that arise between clinicians or patient and family”(Brown, Lachman & Swanson, 2015). Provision 2 was violated because the nurses

While the seriousness of a patient’s death should be investigated, the hospital failed to act promptly and investigate the supervisor’s or human resource (HR) department’s denial of reasonable accommodations or the previous errors made by the nurse. Therefore, the wrongful termination seems more likely to have been the case in this situation. The defense will show that rather than terminating her employment earlier the hospital waited until something catastrophic happened. The nurse took appropriate action discussing her health condition diagnosed by her physician that precludes her from working in the ER at full capacity with her supervisor. The nurse should have been given alternative assignments as appropriate or disability leave if no other alternative was available and should not have been terminated wrongfully after the incident (Pozgar,

The subject I intend to reflect upon is confidentiality within a professional healthcare setting. Confidentiality formed a part of our professional issues lectures and it piqued my interest due to how differently it is interpreted within healthcare as opposed to education, which is my background. In an educational setting I was taught repeatedly that I could never ensure confidentiality between myself and a child. Comparing that to what I have now learnt in healthcare, this seemed to me almost the opposite way of working as I was used to and so I wish to reflect upon this.

The nature of the banker-customer relationship is one of agency. Amongst the duties that stem from this relationship, the bank’s duty of confidentiality is clearly an issue of great importance. The focus of this essay is on the scope and limitations of the bank’s duty, both to its customers as to the public. In order to analyse this it is necessary to firstly consider the idea of duty of confidentiality, Secondly, it is necessary to study the Court of Appeal’s judgement in the case of Tournier. Thirdly, this essay will take the Jack Committee report into consideration. Lastly, this paper will briefly mention the Banking Code, it will also discuss whether the principle in Tournier may be outdated and if so, whether it is in need of a new crystallised self, clearly stating the limits and boundaries of the bank’s duties both to the customer and to the public itself in the form of a statute. To conclude this essay will consider the future of the duty of confidentiality.

* Confidentiality – the steps that are taken when people’s information is not kept confidential and on a need to know basis

Confidentiality is considered a core value or principal in the medical practice. Confidentiality is a right that all people have within the medical field. This is the requirement of health care providers to keep a person’s information exclusive unless the patient or the person consents in the form of a release to share that information with other people that practice. Usually the consent is given when a doctor wants to consult with a different doctor for example. In this case it would be for the betterment of the person.

Everyone is entitled to confidentiality unless they give permission for someone else to see their information or they can no longer make decisions on their own (for example, if they are confused or comatose). A federal law, Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act applies to most health care physicians and its guideline, known as the Privacy Rule. The Privacy Rule sets specific rules regarding privacy, access, and disclosure of information. For example, HIPAA specifies the following:

a swing in the emphasis and the resources devoted to this activity. Note; In all areas, confidentiality is of critical importance.

Confidentiality is central to trust between doctors, medical team and patients. Patients have a right to expect that information about them will be held in confidence. The birth of the Hippocratic Oath in the fourth century started the responsibility of physicians to preserve the privacy and confidentiality of their patients. One of the provisions of the Oath lays the ethical foundation for the physician’s duty of confidentiality even beyond the circumstances of medical care. The Florence Nightingale Pledge, which was composed in 1893, was a modification of the “Hippocratic Oath,” a statement of the ethics and principles of the nursing profession. Included in the pledge is to hold in confidence

Ethics is the study of right and wrong (Houser, 2015). privileged communication, is one of the key elements of ethics in research. Privileged communication includes conversations within the context of a protected relationship, such as that between doctor and patient, a therapist and client, an attorney and client, a husband and wife, or a priest and penitent, under common law, privilege involves a number of rules excluding evidence that would be adverse to a fundamental principle or relationship if it were disclosed Such communications are secure, reliable, and meant to be kept among the directly involved parties ("Ethics in medical research," n.d.). confidential communication is privileged depends on the relationship between the parties and the circumstances under which the communication is made. The primary reason is to allow the patient to speak freely with a doctor who is treating him or her to ensure that the patient receives the best and fullest medical care available under the circumstances. For example, should a patient confess to a psychiatrist that he or she has committed a crime, the doctor would not be allowed to share that information or be compelled to testify against the patient, If the patient were afraid of sharing the truth for fear that it may lead to an arrest or damaging testimony at trial, the patient may not be truthful and the treatment process could become ineffective, take much longer, or lead to an incorrect diagnosis (Legal Resources, n. d).