Argument 3 : Importance of the privilege
The Doctor-client confidentiality agreement is an extremely important factor of the medical field in today’s society and is the underlying aspect that allowed medical practitioners to effectively and efficiently do their jobs. The reason why doctor- client confidentiality is an important factor in modern day medical practice is that by receiving information from the client the medical practitioner will be able to investigate and attempt to solve the problems the client might be facing in terms of their health , however if there wasn’t the factor of confidentiality in that relationship a client may be reluctant to provide the medical practitioner with such information that will help him/her …show more content…
These duties include the doctor-client confidentiality agreement which has been established by common law since 1928 as a result of the Halls V. Mitchell case. The Doctor client confidentiality agreement is an extremely important factor if the medical field in today’s society and allows doctors to effectively and efficiently do their jobs, as well as builds an unified sense of community. Even though an individual is entitled to have their communications with their medical practitioner confidential , the privilege can be taken away as a result of the many exceptions which are included in S.36 of the Regulated Health Professions Act,1991 . However, in 1999 the trial judge in the Smith V. Jones case created the notion of the three factor test that must be met in order for one to prove that the breach of privilege is justified. This test consisted of three questions that must be asked while analyzing the situation at hand; the first question is whether there is a clear risk to an indentifiable person or group which requires the medical practitioner to determine if a reasonable prudent individual would have been able to clearly identify that person or group, the second question is whether there is a risk of serious bodily harm or death which requires the medical practitioner to determine if there is a serious risk that the threat could result in the person or group suffering serious bodily harm or death, the third and last question that had to be considered is whether the danger is imminent which requires the medical practitioner to determine whether the threat being faced creates a sense of urgency. When all three of these questions are considered and the situation can be deemed a threat
The Doctor-client confidentiality agreement is an extremely important factor of the medical field in today’s society and is the underlying aspect that allowed medical practitioners to effectively and efficiently do their jobs. The reason why doctor- client confidentiality is an important factor in modern day medical practice is that by receiving information from the client the medical practitioner will be able to investigate and attempt to solve the problems the client might be facing in terms of their health , however if there wasn’t the factor of confidentiality in that relationship a client may be reluctant to provide the medical practitioner with such information that will help him/her …show more content…
These duties include the doctor-client confidentiality agreement which has been established by common law since 1928 as a result of the Halls V. Mitchell case. The Doctor client confidentiality agreement is an extremely important factor if the medical field in today’s society and allows doctors to effectively and efficiently do their jobs, as well as builds an unified sense of community. Even though an individual is entitled to have their communications with their medical practitioner confidential , the privilege can be taken away as a result of the many exceptions which are included in S.36 of the Regulated Health Professions Act,1991 . However, in 1999 the trial judge in the Smith V. Jones case created the notion of the three factor test that must be met in order for one to prove that the breach of privilege is justified. This test consisted of three questions that must be asked while analyzing the situation at hand; the first question is whether there is a clear risk to an indentifiable person or group which requires the medical practitioner to determine if a reasonable prudent individual would have been able to clearly identify that person or group, the second question is whether there is a risk of serious bodily harm or death which requires the medical practitioner to determine if there is a serious risk that the threat could result in the person or group suffering serious bodily harm or death, the third and last question that had to be considered is whether the danger is imminent which requires the medical practitioner to determine whether the threat being faced creates a sense of urgency. When all three of these questions are considered and the situation can be deemed a threat