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| Article - Abstract. To view full article click on the article title. | |
eMJA: Confidentiality and privacy: beyond legal duties Confidentiality and privacy: beyond legal duties. It is important to clarify the foundations and scope of both legal and ethical duties. In law, information provided to a medical practitioner by a patient becomes subject to a statutory duty to protect the patient's privacy and a common-law duty of confidence owed by the medical practitioner to the patient. *A failure to fulfil this duty is not an offence, although it can be the foundation of a complaint to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner. Privacy Act 1988 (Cwlth), section 36. There is specific legislation in the Australian Capital Territory (Health Records [Privacy and Access] Act 1997), New South Wales (Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act 1998) and Victoria (Health Records Act 2001), and other States are actively considering such legislation, including New South Wales in relation to health information. Statutory duty. The statutory duty* varies according to whether federal or state legislation applies. The federal Privacy Act 1988 applies to health information used by a private organisation and permits use or disclosure of such information without the patient's consent in a specified list of circumstances.2 Those that relate to the examples given by Braunack-Mayer and Mulligan are (a) disclosure for purposes directly related to the purpose of collection in ways that the patient would reasonably expect;3 and (b) disclosure that is reasonably believed to be necessary to prevent or lessen a serious and imminent threat to a person's life, health or safety.4 The scope of the statutory duty is not yet clear, as guidelines5 and public interest determinations6 issued by the Federal Privacy Commissioner indicate. Full Article: http://www.mja.com.au/public/issues/178_06_170303/editorials_170303-1.html |
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2006 Ethics-Governance.com |
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