What if non-health department staff break confidentiality, for example, co-workers at a worksite?
When an outbreak of TB has occurred or a contact investigation is being conducted in a work site or institutional setting where numerous contacts may have been infected, maintaining confidentiality is challenging. Sometimes, a contact guesses the identity of the source case and it becomes difficult to contain rumors. In addition, a friend, family member, or co-worker of the patient may divulge information about the patient to others. Patients should be counseled that despite the health-care worker’s best efforts, sometimes confidentiality is not preserved. The patient and the health-care worker should discuss this possibility and be prepared to address this issue in the event that patient confidentiality is not maintained. To prevent breaches in confidentiality, patients should be counseled to inform only persons they trust about their diagnosis and to ask these persons to safeguard that information. In general, health-care workers can only be held responsible for their actions, and no
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