Confidentiality in the Consultation-Liaison Process: Ethical Dimensions and Conflicts

Abstract

The role of the consultant is complex and marked by essential moral tensions which are inescapable because the consultant is the agent of the patient, of the attending physician, the health care team, the public health concerns of the state, as well as having his or her own independent interest. The consultant role is therefore marked by conflicts of loyalties and competing values. The nature of this complex role is carefully analyzed.