Patient autonomy and relatives' right to know genetic information

Area of Science:

• Medical Law
• Bioethics
• Genetics

Background:

• Physicians face conflicts between professional duties, particularly concerning patient confidentiality versus family implications.
• Current medical law principles (patient autonomy, harm prevention) inadequately address complex family information disclosure scenarios.
• Socio-medical research suggests existing legal frameworks do not fully align with patient and doctor perspectives.

Purpose of the Study:

• To analyze comparative English and Israeli medical law regarding doctor's duty of confidentiality.
• To propose a revised legal framework for medical confidentiality that incorporates familial considerations.
• To explore a relational approach to autonomy and communitarianism in medical ethics.

Main Methods:

• Comparative legal analysis of medical law in England and Israel.
• Review of socio-medical research on patient and doctor views regarding confidentiality.
• Development of a theoretical framework for a relational approach to medical confidentiality.

Main Results:

• Existing legal principles are too narrow for practical application in cases involving family information.
• A liberal view of patient autonomy and utilitarian harm prevention are insufficient.
• A need exists to reconsider and qualify the doctor's duty of confidentiality concerning family members.

Conclusions:

• The doctor's duty of confidentiality should be reconsidered and qualified when family interests are involved.
• A relational interpretation of autonomy and communitarian principles offer a more flexible approach.
• Integrating a social criterion focusing on family dynamics provides a workable solution for genetic information disclosure dilemmas.