Disclosure and use of personal health information.

Abstract

Lord Walton's Disclosure and Use of Personal Health Information Bill received its second reading in the House of Lords this week. The bill illustrates the difficulty of legislating in the subject of medical confidentiality. The basic principle of medical confidentiality is simply stated: “patients have a right to expect that you will not pass on any personal information which you learn in the course of your professional duties, unless they agree.”1 Difficulties arise when there is an attempt to list the exceptions to this simple principle. The focus then tends to shift from protecting the patient's right to confidentiality and providing the patient with strong tools for preserving confidentiality to licensing disclosure and providing health professionals, medical researchers, and the police with permission to gain access to personal health information in a wide variety of circumstances. A right which is easily …