ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the laws and ethics pertaining to exceptions to confidentiality, focusing on practitioners’ duties to prevent harm to patients and others. It discusses the various sources practitioners rely upon in order to determine exceptions to their patients’ confidentiality and privacy, their responsibilities to take action, and the importance of exercising sound professional judgment in order to protect one’s self and one’s patients. Even though specific wording in ethics codes varies, most health care professions note that requirements to protect confidentiality do not apply when disclosure is necessary to prevent serious, foreseeable, and imminent harm to a patient or other identifiable person. The chapter provides a brief summary of what professional codes of ethics and state and federal laws state regarding exceptions to confidentiality. Practitioners can obtain information about their specific duties by consulting clinical colleagues who are experienced in ethics, by asking their professional associations or regulatory boards for information, or by consulting their own attorneys.
