Dual loyalties 1.13
Medical confidentiality
The prison doctor is committed to the same standards of confidentiality as for doctors working in the community. The patient must trust that the information he or she has given the doctor will not be known outside the consulting room.
The principle of patient confidentiality is difficult to maintain in the prison setting and is often compromised. There may be cases where there have to be necessary breaches of medical confidentiality. For example, a prison Director may have to know why a transferral has to be made, as could be the case for an inmate with complications of a contagious drug-resistant form of tuberculosis, for example. Such cases should be the exception, and breaches of confidentiality strictly limited to those who really need to know. Accountability must be stressed, so that the breach does not become open knowledge for other staff. In prisons with overcrowded cells and no facilities where the doctor can see the patient in private, it may be difficult to always guarantee the patient full confidentiality. The doctor should always do whatever possible to obtain a proper area for medical attention, and ensure so far as possible, medical confidentiality.