Sports Medicine

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As a patient, anything discussed with your doctor must be kept private. The Data Protection Act of 1998 guarantees this doctor-patient confidentiality. Doctors are not allowed disclose any information about a person's medical history or condition even to close family members without the patient's consent.

Sometimes, a doctor shares medical records with other health professionals as part of a consultation. The goal of such an act is to provide the best care possible for the patient, and the shared information is non-identifiable. However, the patient has the right to request that his or her medical information not be shared with anyone. There are some exceptions to the doctor-patient confidentiality rule. A doctor may ask for a patient's consent to share their information with others, normally for the purposes of research or case studies. Doctors must provide their patients with all of the information possible so that the patient can make an informed decision about accepting or rejecting the doctor's request.

There are situations in which the doctor can share patient information without prior consent. A doctor may breach confidentiality if there are reasonable grounds, such as protecting the patient, their family or the community. Another reason to disclose information is if it would be considered "democratically necessary." In other words, the information might affect others, therefore, they have a right to know. Lastly, doctor-patient confidentiality does not apply if sharing information is proportionate to the need.