ABA Family Legal Guide

Health-Care Law

Patients' Rights

Confidentiality and Privacy

Is there a difference between "confidentiality" and "privacy"?

Yes. In everyday language these terms might seem interchangeable, but from a legal standpoint, they have distinct definitions.

Confidentiality means that a doctor should not reveal your personal information to anyone except those people that are caring for you. Confidentiality refers to your expectation that what you tell your doctor will not be repeated to anyone not involved in your treatment. It is your decision as to what other uses may be made of the information. It should be up to you whether your information is released to pharmaceutical companies, other patients, or anyone else not involved in your care. This duty is rooted in the Hippocratic oath.

Most information in the health record is not from the doctor-patient relationship. Laws regulating health informational privacy give protection against unauthorized disclosure of personally identifiable information even if it was not disclosed in the context of a doctor-patient relationship.