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Confidentiality and the nxt of kin

Galbin · 2016-10-19 19:46:19

If a person is in hospital, but refuses to tell his family what exactly is happening, does the next of kin have any rights? Is the doctor allowed to explain to the next of kin what is happening to the patient? The patient is considered to be of sound mind.

19-10-2016 7:46pm

#1

Galbin

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If a person is in hospital, but refuses to tell his family what exactly is happening, does the next of kin have any rights? Is the doctor allowed to explain to the next of kin what is happening to the patient? The patient is considered to be of sound mind.

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Comments

#2 19-10-2016 8:03pm

Icemancometh

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Nope. While there are limits to confidentiality, this isn't one of them. You can only break confidentiality without consent when the patient or someone else is at risk, where you are required to by law (ie infectious disease notification), or ordered to by a judge.

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#3 19-10-2016 8:42pm

Galbin

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So a doctor cannot even tell the next of kin even if the patient has a terminal diagnosis?

Thanks.

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#4 19-10-2016 8:44pm

Icemancometh

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Galbin wrote: »

So a doctor cannot even tell the next of kin if a person has a terminal diagnosis?

If the patient doesn't give you their permission, there's no options except the ones I mentioned above.

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#5 22-10-2016 4:45pm

Sylvius

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There's really no such thing as a 'next of kin' under Irish law.

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