Confidentiality Definition
According to the Dictionary of Ethical and Legal Terms and Issues , confidentiality is “the obligation of practitioners to respect the privacy of clients by not revealing to others the information communicated to them by the client during counseling sessions unless released by the client to do so. In couples and family therapy, it is granted primarily to the couple or whole family rather than to the individual, unless otherwise stated” (Sperry, 2007, p. 21). The definition can be extrapolated to cover other contexts, including healthcare, business administration, and information technology.
Importance of Confidentiality
Respect for confidentiality safeguards patients’ well-being and ensures society’s confidence in the doctor-patient relationship. Medical professionals are responsible for protecting their patient’s confidentiality, which is morally justified based on the rights associated with the doctor-patient relationship. Maintaining patient confidentiality is founded on the fundamental consideration of persons, whereby medical professionals are expected to respect the principles of beneficence, non-maleficence, and autonomy. Therefore, confidentiality is the moral right to help people maintain the confidentiality of information they entrust to others, which makes them obligated to guard secrecy (Beltran-Aroca et al., 2016, p. 1). The purpose of this paper is to analyze confidentiality in the workplace, its importance, and the consequences of breaching confidentiality.
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Health information includes the data collected from observations, various tests, and diagnoses. Additionally, it includes subjective views about the patient, their hobbies, characteristics, and lifestyle. Breaching confidentiality might harm the patient’s reputation or lead to personal humiliation, loss of opportunities, and financial commitment. Healthcare professionals can use their discretion to breach patient confidentiality if public health or others are at risk. Modern-day medicine involves large healthcare teams composed of physicians, nurses, and administrative personnel, among others. These teams require access to patients’ medical records to provide quality health care. When these healthcare personnel breach confidentialities either due to carelessness, malice, or indiscretion, they jeopardize the duty in the doctor-patient relationship. Carelessness includes speaking about the patient in public spaces. The fear of breaching confidentiality might motivate patients to withhold important information, which would lead to negative clinical consequences (Beltran-Aroca et al., 2016, p. 2). The same goes for clients and customers, whereby the personal information they provide should be kept private.
Additionally, advancement in technology has led to increased concerns about breaching confidentiality. Though the incorporation of information technology (IT) in healthcare has led to numerous benefits, there are still some challenges that arise. For instance, the implementation of electronic health records (EHR) has led increased concerns about privacy for adolescents and parents. Various threats to confidentiality arise, such as disclosure of adolescent health information to parents and vice versa, especially where either party plans to keep the information private. Increased confidentiality concerns led to the implementation of privacy laws, such as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). These privacy laws are implemented to prevent breaching confidentiality due to lack of data encryption and inadequate protection (Bayer et al., 2015, p. 2). Therefore, IT presents challenges to maintaining confidentiality.
When businesses breach confidentiality agreements, they risk facing legal action. In the healthcare sector, lawsuits address inappropriate diagnosis and treatment and medical negligence. Businesses are forced to compensate their clients or customers for the suffering that arises from medical negligence, breach of confidentiality, and jeopardized consent. The number of litigations has increased in the recent past due to greater awareness among patients. Additionally, increased costs have resulted in higher expectations and led patients to demand more value for their money (Agarwal et al., 2019, p. 1). This includes more demands for privacy and confidentiality, which also impacts organizations’ reputations.
Pharmacists are also mandated to maintain the confidentiality of prescription information. Breaching confidentiality leads to lawsuits. For example, an Arizona appellate court litigated a patient’s breach of confidentiality claim where a pharmacist disclosed prescription information to a client’s ex-wife. The plaintiff received a sample of erectile dysfunction (ED) medication from his physician. Later, the pharmacy informed him that his prescription was ready, but the plaintiff requested the pharmacy to cancel it. The pharmacy acknowledged his request. However, the patient called the pharmacy a month later to enquire about another prescription and was told that the ED medication prescription was ready. The plaintiff sent his ex-wife to pick up his regular refill. Upon arrival, the ex-wife was given his regular refill along with the ED medication. She refused to collect the ED medication and joked about the plaintiff’s condition. Later, she disclosed the information to the plaintiff’s children and friends. Consequently, the patient sued the pharmacy for malpractice due to breaching confidentiality (Brushwood, 2019, p. 34). In this case, the plaintiff was justified to sue for malpractice due to the resulting personal humiliation and damaged reputation. The violation led to punitive charges against the pharmacy.
Conclusion
Confidentiality is the moral right to help people maintain the confidentiality of information they disclose to others, which makes them obligated to guard secrecy. Respecting confidentiality safeguards patients’ well-being. It also ensures society’s confidence in the doctor-patient relationship. Modern-day medicine involves healthcare teams formed by physicians, nursing staff, and administrative personnel. Therefore, many people have access to patient data, which increases the risk of breaching confidentiality. Additionally, the incorporation of IT in healthcare has increased the risk of breaching confidentiality, especially in cases where there are inadequate protection and lack of data encryption. These risks necessitated the introduction of privacy laws. Breaching confidentiality leads to litigations and loss of trust in the doctor-patient relationship.
References
Agarwal, D., Kumar, A., & Sundar, D. (2019). Commentary: Medico legal aspects in ophthalmology in India. Indian journal of ophthalmology , 67 (10), 1526. 10.4103/ijo.IJO_1510_19
Bayer, R., Santelli, J., & Klitzman, R. (2015). New challenges for electronic health records: confidentiality and access to sensitive health information about parents and adolescents. Jama , 313 (1), 29-30. 10.1001/jama.2014.15391
Beltran-Aroca, C. M., Girela-Lopez, E., Collazo-Chao, E., Montero-Pérez-Barquero, M., & Muñoz-Villanueva, M. C. (2016). Confidentiality breaches in clinical practice: what happens in hospitals? BMC Medical Ethics , 17 (1), 52. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12910-016-0136-y
Brushwood, D. B. (2019). Alleged breach of confidentiality leads to a lawsuit. Pharmacy Today , 25 (7), 34. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ptdy.2019.06.017
Sperry, L. (2007). Dictionary of ethical and legal terms and issues: The essential guide for mental health professionals . Routledge.
