Confidentiality Laws

Abstract

Privacy refers to the fundamental rights of nonintrusion, the freedom to act in personal matters, and the protection of personal information. All of these are protected by the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution. The concept of confidentiality, as part of privacy, plays important roles in medicine by promoting respect for patients’ privacy and intimacy and encouraging patients’ honesty in revealing information to physicians. According to Vaughn, additional arguments reinforce the need for such a trust bond: the harm that the disclosed information may bring about for patients, such as discrimination, stigma, and shame, and the consequences to the doctor–patient relationship, such as a rupture in trust, patient nondisclosure of information, and inability of physicians to fulfill their obligation of beneficence.