PHL 111 Lecture 28: PHL 111 - Lecture 28

• School: Tunxis Community College
• Department: Philosophy
• Course: PHL 111
• Professor: Minor

Document Summary

There is a premium placed on the value of confidentiality in the medical context . I. e. given the deeply personal, vulnerable and asymmetrical nature of medical interventions, a patient"s intimate information should be closely guarded by the primary physician and only disclosed to others at the express consent of the patient. But there are (at least) 2 problems with the strict application of confidentiality. A tension exists between a physician"s confidentiality responsibility and his responsibility to divulge information necessary for the protection and/or well-being of others. Respect for persons, their sense of individuality and integrity, and their right to privacy. > protection against humiliation, shame, defamation, libel, compromising information, etc. The sense of trust attendant with the belief that sensitive information will remain confidential, greatly increases the likelihood of a patient honestly divulging all of the information necessary for adequate treatment. So, we will not resolve the problems involved with confidentiality by simply doing away with it .