The Principle of Medical Confidentiality and its Moral Dilemmas

In the realm of health care, it is difficult to hold rules and principles that are absolute. This is due to the variables that exist in the context of clinical cases, as well as several principles that seem to be applicable in different situations. Even though they are not considered absolute, these principles serve as powerful action guides in clinical medicine. Over the years, these principles have won a general acceptance as applicable in moral analysis of ethical issues in medicine. This dissertation seeks to unveil the ethical dilemmas in medical ethics raised by one of the ethical codes namely; the rule of confidentiality. The book seeks to provide an insight into cases where the rule can and cannot be breached, namely autonomy, beneficence, paternalism and non-maleficence. Hypothetical cases will be given to demonstrate the applicability and moral dilemmas of the principles. Thus it will be shown that doctors are justified to breach the rule of confidentiality under certain circumstances since it is not absolute rule but a prima facie one.