Medical confidentiality and patient safety: reporting procedures

Medical confidentiality is of individual and of general interest. Medical confidentiality is not absolute. European countries differ in their legislative approaches of consent for data-sharing and lawful breaches of medical confidentiality. An increase of interference by the legislator with medical confidentiality is noticeable. In The Netherlands for instance this takes the form of new mandatory duties to report resp. of legislation providing for a release of medical confidentiality in specific situations, often under the condition that reporting takes place on the basis of a professional code that includes elements imposed by the legislator (e.g. (suspicion of) child abuse, domestic violence). Legislative interference must not result in the patient loosing trust in healthcare. To avoid erosion of medical confidentiality, (comparative) effectiveness studies and privacy impact assessments are necessary (European and national level). Medical confidentiality should be a subject of permanent education of health personnel.