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Privacy and Confidentiality: The Doctor’s Obligations

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Book cover Legal and Forensic Medicine

Abstract

At the heart of the relationship of trust between a medical practitioner and their patient, is the obligation on the part of the practitioner to keep confidential what they learn in the course of providing professional services and to refrain from generating collateral benefit from what they have learned. The long-standing obligation of doctor-patient confidentiality has been significantly modified to allow, and on some occasions to mandate, practitioners to provide information to facilitate patients,’ third parties,’ and the general community’s health and safety. This chapter reviews such obligations and the legal context in which they have been tested.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Melbourne, Australia

    Dr. Ian Freckelton SC Professor Fellow

  2. Law and Psychiatry, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

    Dr. Ian Freckelton SC Professor Fellow

  3. Forensic Medicine and Forensic Psychology, Monash University, C/o Barristers’ Clerk Howells, Owen Dixon Chambers West, 525 Lonsdale St, Melbourne, 3000, VIC, Australia

    Dr. Ian Freckelton SC Professor Fellow

Authors
  1. Dr. Ian Freckelton SC Professor Fellow
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ian Freckelton SC Professor Fellow .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Chatswood, New South Wales, Australia

    Roy G. Beran

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© 2013 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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SC, I.F. (2013). Privacy and Confidentiality: The Doctor’s Obligations. In: Beran, R. (eds) Legal and Forensic Medicine. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-32338-6_147

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