Original scientific paper
Medical Confidentiality in the Function of Protecting the Privacy of Persons with Mental Disorders
Velinka Grozdanić
; Faculty of Law, University of Rijeka, Rijeka, Croatia
Marissabell Škorić
; Faculty of Law, University of Rijeka, Rijeka, Croatia
Dalida Rittossa
; Faculty of Law, University of Rijeka, Rijeka, Croatia
Abstract
The obligation to maintain medical confidentiality is one of the basic postulates of medical deontology originating in the distant past. This is understandable bearing in mind that the institute of medical confidentiality is designed not only to protect the privacy of the individual, but also to enable successful treatment which cannot be achieved without trust between the patient and the physician. It can be said that there is no medicine without trust and that there is no trust without secrets. Due to the fact that stigmatisation of persons suffering from mental disorders is still present in the modern society, psychiatric patients fall within the group of especially vulnerable persons. Therefore, the legislator has included new provisions in the 2014 Act on the Protection of Persons with Mental Disorders in order to enforce protection of unauthorised disclosure of information relating to this special category of persons. A detailed analysis of the provisions of the Act on the Protection of Persons with Mental Disorders regulating confidentiality of data and medical documentation pertaining to persons with mental health problems is presented in this article. The article presents a critical assessment of normative efficiency achieved in balancing the sometimes completely opposite interests: the interest to protect privacy of persons with mental disorders and the interest to protect society from potential danger from such persons.
Keywords
persons suffering from mental disorders; right to privacy; medical confidentiality; Act on the Protection of Persons with Mental Disorders
Hrčak ID:
132623
URI
Publication date:
16.12.2014.
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