M.MSc.(Med.), Bioethics and Health Law, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, 2011 / Keeping information a patient has given in confidence to his or
her doctor is a fundamental value in each individual doctorpatient
relationship. However, when a medical professional is
faced with disclosing confidential information in the face of
competing public interests (or other ethically compelling reasons)
he or she faces an ethical dilemma. In the context of the HIV/AIDS
epidemic in South Africa, the dilemma to keep medical
confidences or to disclose information to identifiable third parties
is frequently faced by doctors and other healthcare professionals.
This research report highlights the duty of medical confidentiality
identifying its importance both as an ‘absolute’ principle in
healthcare practice as well as suggesting that there are contexts
in which it should be considered as a relative duty. In keeping, this
format of this research report will present current data
concerning the HIV/AIDS epidemic, interrogate the idea of
medical confidentiality, explore some professional guidelines
associated with HIV/AIDS disclosure, as well as raise some ethical–
legal considerations concerning healthcare professionals and the
problem of disclosure of their patient’s HIV positive status to
identifiable third parties.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:wits/oai:wiredspace.wits.ac.za:10539/11406 |
| Date | 09 March 2012 |
| Creators | Maluleke, Pardon |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | application/pdf |
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