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McHale asks why a doctor can be forced to disclose a patients' confidences in court when other professional confidences are protected. She goes on to look at whether doctors keep patients' confidences and the need for statutory reform.
Medical confidentiality is universally recognised as a value worth protecting. However, difficulties arise when confidential medical information becomes relevant in the context of crime prevention and criminal prosecution. Should medical confidentiality be upheld where the physician holds information which is essential for the investigation of a serious crime; for establishing the truth in a criminal trial; for an accused’s defence; or for the prevention of a criminal offence? And according to which criteria should such decisions be made? Based on an examination of different approaches in medical ethics and a comparison of the relevant law of France, Germany, England and Wales and the US, this book analyses how a balance of the competing interests can best be struck.
This book, for the first time, offers a comparative study of the origins of professional and public debates on medical confidentiality in the US, Britain, and Germany during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In this period traditional medical secrecy began to be seriously contested by demands for disclosure in the name of public health and the law. Andreas-Holger Maehle examines three representative debates: Do physicians and surgeons have a privilege to refuse to give evidence in court about confidential patient details? Can doctors breach patient confidence in order to prevent the spread of disease? And is there a medical duty to report illegal procedures to the authorities? The comparative approach reveals significant differences and similarities among the three countries concerned, and the book s historical perspective illuminates the fundamental ethical issues at stake that continue to give rise to public debate."
Medical confidentiality has long been recognised as a core element of medical ethics, but its boundaries are under constant negotiation. Areas of debate in twenty-first century medicine include the use of patient-identifiable data in research, information sharing across public services, and the implications of advances in genetics. This book provides important historical insight into the modern evolution of medical confidentiality in the UK. It analyses a range of perspectives and considers the broader context as well as the specific details of debates, developments and key precedents. With each chapter focusing on a different issue, the book covers the common law position on medical privilege, the rise of public health and collective welfare measures, legal and public policy perspectives on medical confidentiality and privilege in the first half of the twentieth century, contestations over statutory recognition for medical privilege and Crown privilege. It concludes with an overview of twentieth century developments. Bringing fresh insights to oft-cited cases and demonstrating a better understanding of the boundaries of medical confidentiality, the book discusses the role of important interest groups such as the judiciary, Ministry of Health and professional medical bodies. It will be directly relevant for people working or studying in the field of medical law as well as those with an interest in the interaction of law, medicine and ethics.
Published in conjunction with the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA), the Fourth Edition of Medical Records and the Law is once again the ideal text for programs in HIM as well as a valuable reference resource for health professionals and those in the legal profession. Providing a useful resource to those in the legal profession, it addresses the substantial changes brought about by HIPAA and the growth of electronic health record systems and electronic data networks, retaining and updating the discussion of state laws affecting the use and disclosure of health informat
Published in conjunction with the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA), Medical Records and the Law is the ideal text for programs in HIM as well as a valuable reference for health and legal professionals. The Fourth Edition features an expanded discussion of state laws affecting the use and disclosure of health information and the substantial changes brought about by HIPAA and the growth of electronic health record systems. It also discusses the highly complex interplay of federal and state laws as well as the challenging area of how patient information may be used in connection with medical research involving human subjects.
