QUESTION
: Discuss privacy, confidentiality, and security. Explore the differences
between privacy and confidentiality. Discuss how security is related to privacy and
confidentiality.
ANSWER:
Privacy and confidentiality are very important topics in the healthcare industry. Privacy is
defined as the state of being alone or the right of a person to keep their personal matters a secret
(2023). The concept was first introduced to the public in 1890 by attorneys Samuel D. Warren
and Louis D. Brandeis when they published "The Right to Privacy" in response to the
exploitation of personal, sensitive information of rich and famous people by the media (Nillson,
2022). Although the right to privacy is not explicitly written in the Constitution, it has been
established within the Bill of Rights (Nillson, 2022) and interpreted "through court decisions,
accrediting body standards, professional healthcare organizations, and individual state and
federal laws" (Brodnik et al., 2023, p. 7).
Confidentiality is private information being kept secret (2023). In other terms, when a patient
sees a physician, it is the moral and legal obligation of the physician to handle that information
with confidentiality in accordance with the patient's right to privacy and legally can only be
shared with the patient's consent as per HIPAA's Privacy Rule (2022). There are three exceptions
to medical record confidentiality: in the case of an emergency, part of a court case, and
mandatory government reporting (2016).
Security is the "protection of a person, building, organization, or country against threats such
as a crime or attacks" (2023). Data security is the process of keeping data safe from unauthorized
access, alteration, and destruction by use of administrative, physical, and technical safeguards
(Sayles & Gordon, 2020, p. 286). Privacy and confidentiality are related because security is what
is used to protect the physical and electronic private information of patients and keep it
confidential.
References:
(2016, June 20).
Florida Medical Records Law
.
FindLaw.
https://www.findlaw.com/state/florida-law/florida-medical-records-
laws.html
