The patient's right to confidentiality

Public policy dictates that physicians maintain confidentiality of their interchanges with their patients and of their records. Though few instances of litigation regarding breach of such confidence are recorded, physicians are well advised not to divulge information or acknowledge the doctor-patient relationship without a patient's consent. Under special circumstances where harm to the patient or the public may be inferred, the physician may have special obligations to contact and/or divulge information to appropriate parties. The special circumstances of AIDS and mental illness merit individual consideration.