Introduction
In this paper, I am going to analyze the ethics of confidentiality in medicine by taking different medical cases that happened to be controversial. I will expose the Tarasoff case as well as Gloria’s movies case in order to answer this question: Is it ethical for a doctor to share confidential information of a patient? In my opinion, doctors and therapists, in general, have the obligation to keep their patient’s information confidential, whatever the case, as it is their role to intervene in public health and security in a much smaller scale, in other words, in an environment personal to the patient only. I will develop this idea in the paragraphs below. To begin, I will briefly explain what are the two cases and how they are ethically controversial, after, I will mention what are the values and principles that are conflicting with each other and finally, I will explain the different arguments in support and against this moral issue using theories such as Kantianism and Utilitarianism.
The Tarasoff Case
Tatiana Tarasoff, a student at the …show more content…
Gloria gave her consent by signing a contract which stated that the information could be used for scientific purposes. She talks about her situation: recently divorced, her 9 years old daughter asks her if she ever slept with another man, Gloria wants to be truthful with her daughter, but also does not want to disappoint her, so she is asking Roger to help her decide whether she should tell the truth or lie. The movies were later distributed to a wider public and became popular, exposing her and her situation openly to the public. Gloria’s family sued the distributor for not following the terms they had agreed on, and they won, but it was too late for the movies were widely known. Her daughter was subject to mockery, intimidation, public embarrassment and rumors throughout her
In this paper, I am going to analyze the ethics of confidentiality in medicine by taking different medical cases that happened to be controversial. I will expose the Tarasoff case as well as Gloria’s movies case in order to answer this question: Is it ethical for a doctor to share confidential information of a patient? In my opinion, doctors and therapists, in general, have the obligation to keep their patient’s information confidential, whatever the case, as it is their role to intervene in public health and security in a much smaller scale, in other words, in an environment personal to the patient only. I will develop this idea in the paragraphs below. To begin, I will briefly explain what are the two cases and how they are ethically controversial, after, I will mention what are the values and principles that are conflicting with each other and finally, I will explain the different arguments in support and against this moral issue using theories such as Kantianism and Utilitarianism.
The Tarasoff Case
Tatiana Tarasoff, a student at the …show more content…
Gloria gave her consent by signing a contract which stated that the information could be used for scientific purposes. She talks about her situation: recently divorced, her 9 years old daughter asks her if she ever slept with another man, Gloria wants to be truthful with her daughter, but also does not want to disappoint her, so she is asking Roger to help her decide whether she should tell the truth or lie. The movies were later distributed to a wider public and became popular, exposing her and her situation openly to the public. Gloria’s family sued the distributor for not following the terms they had agreed on, and they won, but it was too late for the movies were widely known. Her daughter was subject to mockery, intimidation, public embarrassment and rumors throughout her