Patient Care – Legal And Ethical Issues Clover Practice Test

Confidentiality in healthcare means protecting a patient’s private health information and sharing it only with those who are authorized to know, with the patient’s consent, or when required by law. The essence is that the patient’s medical records and protected health information stay private unless there’s a legitimate reason to disclose them. This is why keeping a patient’s medical records and protected health information private best captures the right to confidentiality. Disclosing information publicly or sharing it with people who aren’t authorized would violate this right, since it involves improper disclosure. Access to records only after a court order is a legal exception that allows disclosure in specific circumstances, but it isn’t the default principle of confidentiality.