When a doctor can disclose information in the public interest

by | Feb 12, 2017 | Health Blog

The General Medical Council in the UK has recently published revised guidance on confidentiality for doctors.

The revised guidance provides useful clarification on when doctors can disclose information in the public interest to protect individuals or society from risks of serious harm.

The benefits to an individual or to society of the disclosure must outweigh both the patient’s and the public interest in keeping the information confidential.

For example, if a disclosure would be likely to be necessary for the prevention, detection or prosecution of serious crime, especially crimes against the person. When victims of violence refuse police assistance, disclosure may still be justified if others remain at risk, for example from someone who is prepared to use weapons, or from domestic violence when children or others may be at risk.

Other examples of situations in which failure to disclose information may expose others to a risk of death or serious harm include when a patient is not fit to drive, or has been diagnosed with a serious communicable disease, or poses a serious risk to others through being unfit for work.

The guidance states that when deciding whether the public interest in disclosing information outweighs patients’ and the public interest in keeping the information confidential, a doctor must consider:

  1. the potential harm or distress to the patient arising from the disclosure – for example, in terms of their future engagement with treatment and their overall health
  2. the potential harm to trust in doctors generally – for example, if it is widely perceived that doctors will readily disclose information about patients without consent
  3. the potential harm to others (whether to a specific person or people, or to the public more broadly) if the information is not disclosed
  4. the potential benefits to an individual or to society arising from the release of the information
  5. the nature of the information to be disclosed, and any views expressed by the patient
  6. whether the harms can be avoided or benefits gained without breaching the patient’s privacy or, if not, what is the minimum intrusion.

If a doctor considers that failure to disclose the information would leave individuals or society exposed to a risk so serious that it outweighs patients’ and the public interest in maintaining confidentiality, he or she should disclose relevant information promptly to an appropriate person or authority. The doctor should infhereorm the patient before disclosing the information, if it is practicable and safe to do so, even if he or she intends to disclose without their consent.

Where practicable, the doctor should seek appropriate advice about disclosure of information, and must document in the patient’s record the reasons for disclosing information without consent and any steps taken to seek the patient’s consent, to inform them about the disclosure, or the reasons for not doing so.

The GMC guidance for doctors may be found here.

Enore Panetta

Enore Panetta