Confidentiality and Children

A 17 and has an inherited metabolic disease. She has been attending a specialist clinic on a yearly basis for monitoring. Sometimes she attends with her parents, although patients are encouraged to increasingly take an independent approach. At the latest appointment this patient specifically asked to speak to the consultant without her dad being present. She asked the consultant of the risks of developing a metabolic crisis associated with illicit drug use. She admitted that she occasionally uses recreational drugs. She insisted that her parents should not be informed of this and from previous conversations with her parents it is clear that they do not know of the drug use. The team has advised this patient about the implications and risks of her behavior in terms of her health and the fact that it is illegal, but the consultant wonders whether he should inform this patient’s parents of her drug use.

• Is a duty of confidentiality owed to the patient?
• What circumstances justify breaching confidentiality?

Apply Theory (Specific Professional Healthcare Competencies + Clinical Medical Ethical Principles) to Practice in order to provide Optimal Patient-Centered Care (OPCC)

Clinical Ethics and Law, Second edition. Carolyn Johnston, Penelope Bradbury, Series editor: Janice Ryme