The physician-patient privilege: the practical necessity of a written patient waiver

Communications between physician and patient have been protected from disclosure to third parties with the enactment of state statutes. The medical privilege, as it is commonly known, now embodied in Rule 503 of the Mississippi Rules of Evidence, contains the limiting language that the privilege is waived only to the extent that the patient places his medical condition at issue in a judicial proceeding. The authors note that this oftentimes forces the physician to make difficult decisions concerning what information, if any, is to be disclosed to an outsider to the physician-patient relationship. It is therefore prudent for the physician to insist upon a carefully worded written authorization, executed by the patient, prefatory to release of any such information.