What Is Doctor-Patient Confidentiality?
Although patient-doctor confidentiality is often cited as a law, it is considered more of a code of ethics for medical practitioners. This practice is taken by physicians as part of the Hippocratic Oath, wherein an individual’s affliction or medical state is never released to the general public without a written court order. This is, of course, done for the benefit of the patient. This careful handling of information centers itself usually around the doctor, the patient and the patient’s immediate family. In some extreme cases, the patient in question may even ask the doctor to restrict the information further from his or her immediately family – this is perfectly allowable. The reason why doctor-patient confidentiality is so highly treasured is because this practice is a way of easing the mental strain of patients who may have issues about (what they may consider as embarrassing) medical conditions. Subpoenaing medical records is not a light matter. Even in extremely difficult litigat
