Question

Do patients have a legal right to have their illness remain unknown if they are putting others in danger?

Answer 1

Patients have several rights about their illness and treatments. One of the important right is the confidentiality in which he / she gets the right to have their illnesses remain unknown to others.

The code of ethics dictates doctors to hold information about the illness and treatment plan for the patient in strict confidentiality from everyone except the patient and their caretakers.

Even though the patient get the right to have their illness remain unknown if they are putting others in danger, he has some important responsibility to keep others safe from his illnesses. He should work forward to reduce the risk of others. He should be responsible and beware of other persons safety. Rights and responsibilities are equaly important in all cases.

But, there is an exemptional scenario also. The information of the patient is shared if the patient does not follow his responsibilities and he makes others in a great danger in that case his right to confidentiality is not applicable, where sharing this information is “in the interest of protecting other or due to public health considerations.”

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