Unqualified Medical Confidentiality

Confidentiality can be described as a set of guidelines and procedures that place boundaries and restrictions on certain types of information. In medicine, the ability to keep a patient's health data private is one of the core responsibilities of a physician. In A Defense of Unqualified Medical Confidentiality, Kenneth Kipnis describes his view of patient privacy as absolute and something that must be upheld without waiver. In his essay, he disagrees with the views of the justice system and its stance in which it suggests confidentiality may be breached in order to ensure the welfare of a third party. He believes that legal and personal standards are not acceptable motivation to break the bond between patient/doctor trust. He acknowledges the …show more content…
He proceeded to work until his ailment became so severe and painful that it was impossible to hide. Management was soon informed of his outbreak and he was asked to leave work until he was fully recovered and noninfectious. Upon intervention with the said employee he stated that his medical doctor advised him to disclose his ailment to anybody he would be in close proximity with. Because of this employee's line of work (one that requires close work with immune deficient patients) his medical provider also strongly urged that he take time off until he was healed. The shingles virus is highly contagious and has a great potential to wreak havoc on the very young, elderly and those who are ill. I find this example relevant in its nature of creating conflict as it posed an unnecessary hazard to hundreds of patients and a whole department of medical workers. If the treating provider of the infected employee would have (or was able to) notify his employer, much grief could have been avoided. Of course, once the cat was out of the bag, every patient and faculty member that was in contact with the infected employee had to be notified. The incidence raised question as to why his treating provider did not alert those in harm's way. Some asked why he, the infected patient, did not disclose his condition before returning to work. Kipnis's theory suggests that broken confidentiality would shatter trust. However, the story of the infected shingles worker and the lack of disclosure created more pandemonium than Kipnis