SciELO - Scientific Electronic Library Online

 
vol.110 issue6COVID-19: Mandatory institutional isolation v. voluntary home self-isolationQuarantine alone or in combination with other public health measures to control COVID-19: A rapid Cochrane review author indexsubject indexarticles search
Home Pagealphabetic serial listing  

Services on Demand

Article

Indicators

Related links

  • On index processCited by Google
  • On index processSimilars in Google

Share


SAMJ: South African Medical Journal

On-line version ISSN 2078-5135
Print version ISSN 0256-9574

Abstract

MCQUOID-MASON, D J. COVID-19 and patient-doctor confidentiality. SAMJ, S. Afr. med. j. [online]. 2020, vol.110, n.6, pp.1-2. ISSN 2078-5135.  http://dx.doi.org/10.7196/SAMJ.2020.v110i6.14797.

Given the increasing numbers of ethical and legal issues arising from the COVID-19 epidemic, particularly in respect of patient-doctor confidentiality, doctors must explain to patients how the measures taken to combat the spread of the virus impact on their confidentiality. Patients must be reassured that doctors are ethically bound to continue to respect such confidentiality, but it should be made clear to them that doctors must also comply with the demands of the law. While the Constitution, statutory law and the common law all recognise a person's right to privacy, during extraordinary times such as the COVID-19 pandemic, confidentiality must be breached to a degree to halt the spread of the virus.

        · text in English     · English ( pdf )

 

Creative Commons License All the contents of this journal, except where otherwise noted, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License