Patient privacy and the confidential information storage about their health appear to be moral ethical standards that physicians should monitor adherence to. There are situations where the doctor has the right to hide information about the patient’s health from themselves, thus seeking consent to treatment procedures without sufficient knowledge of the patient (Tehrani et al., 2018). Such special cases should be abolished or minimized, violating medical ethics and infringing on the patient’s rights. Patient authorization is the main and most important criterion for caring for them in modern medical ethics. Therefore compliance with high standards of information storage should be a priority in any situation. In addition, in the event of the disclosure of medical secrets, the patient has the right to file a legal claim against the doctor. The ethical implication would be to do emotional or reputational harm to the patient. That is why protecting information and keeping medical confidentiality are so important. This not only increases the patient’s confidence but also eliminates a large number of legal and ethical complications that may entail the disclosure of medical secrets.
Protecting patient information is, in some way, protecting their identity and human dignity (Martin-Ferreres et al., 2019). In addition, it should be noted that adherence to the rules of undisclosed medical secrets is essential in order to build a trusting relationship between a doctor and a patient. This seems to be extremely important since the patient’s trust in the doctor can provide a harmonious psychological background, which may be fundamental for their speedy recovery. The patient’s confidence, ensured by the observance of privacy, also allows the doctor to perform their work more adequately. It guarantees that the patient, due to uncertainty about the safety of information, does not keep silent about certain aspects of the disease. Obtaining the most complete and reliable information about the patient’s health is possible not only through the interpretation of the analysis results but also firsthand. The confidential dialogue between the patient and the doctor can shed light on hidden symptoms or manifestations of the disease that would not otherwise be given sufficient attention.
References
Martin-Ferreres, M. L., De Juan Pardo, M. A., Bardallo Porras, D., and Medina Moya, J. L. (2019). An ethnographic study of human dignity in nursing practice. Nursing Outlook, 67(4), 393-403. Web.
Tehrani, T. H., Maddah, S. S. B., Fallahi-Khoshknab, M., Ebadi, A., Shahboulaghi, F. M., & Gillespie, M. (2018). Respecting the privacy of hospitalized patients: An integrative review. Nursing Ethics, 1-13. Web.