Medical Confidentiality and Crime

Sabine Michalowski, University of Essex, UK

• Contents: Introduction. Ethical Considerations: Main schools of medical ethics; Autonomy, privacy and confidentiality; Conflicts of interests in the context of criminal prosecution and crime prevention; Conclusion. European Law: Protection of Medical Confidentiality: European convention on human rights; European convention on human rights and biomedicine; Data protection directive 95/46/EC; European charter of fundamental rights. Disclosure in the Context of Crime Prevention and Criminal Prosecution: Criminal prosecution; Conflicting defence rights; Crime prevention; Summary. French Law: Protection of Medical Confidentiality: Medical confidentiality as a fundamental right; Protection under criminal law; Protection under private law; Professional obligation; Summary. Disclosure in the Context of Crime Prevention and Criminal Prosecution: General and absolute obligation of medical confidentiality; Obligation to give testimony; Defence rights of the physician; Effects of the patient's consent; Obligation to disclose certain information; Admissibility of the physician's testimony; Search for and seizure of medical records; Summary and conclusion. German Law: Protection of Medical Confidentiality: Medical confidentiality as a fundamental right; Protection under criminal law; Protection under contract and tort law; Professional obligation; Summary. Disclosure in the Context of Crime Prevention and Criminal Prosecution: A physician's testimony in criminal court; Crime prevention; Confidential material exempt from search and seizure; Summary and conclusion. English Law: Protection of Medical Confidentiality: Medical confidentiality as a fundamental right; Contractual obligation; Equitable duty; Statutory obligations and criminal offences; Professional obligation; Summary. Disclosure in the Context of Crime Prevention and Criminal Prosecution: State access to confidential medical information; Voluntary disclosure by the physician; Summary and conclusion. American Law: Protection of Medical Confidentiality: Constitutional privacy protection; Statutory obligations; Private law actions for breach of medical confidentiality; Professional obligation; Summary. Disclosure in the Context of Crime Prevention and Criminal Prosecution: Federal law; State law; Summary and conclusion. Comparative Conclusions: Protection of Medical Confidentiality: Constitutional protection; Scope and means of protection; Differences between common law and civil law approaches. Disclosure in the Context of Crime Prevention and Criminal Prosecution: Medical privilege in criminal courts; Defence rights; Crime prevention. Concluding Remarks; Bibliography; Index.

'...clearly well written and researched...' Crime Prevention and International Safety: An International Journal '...remarkable as much for the quality of its developments as the pertinence of its comparative analysis of French, German English and American legislations...this work will be valued for its didactic nature, as exemplified by the brief conclusions and syntheses that punctuate each chapter, and its pragmatic vision.' Schweizerische Zeitschrift für Gesundheitsrecht 'Well researched and clearly written, it is a thorough examination of a specific issue, and offers an excellent analysis of how best to balance the competing interests at stake.' Bulletin of Medical Ethics