Confidentiality and Informed Consent
Raul Delgado
PSY/305
December 16, 2015
Gina Craft, MS, MA

Confidentiality and Informed Consent
Informed consent is usually a practice between a patient and his provider, it is a permission established prior to a procedure after gaining knowledge of the risks that are going to be involved with in the procedure. Although implications could occur with the informed consent, these including; “1) medical emergencies, where there is immediate danger to life and the delay that would be necessary to obtain consent might be harmful; 2) incompetency, where die patient is unable to give a legally valid consent; 3) therapeutic privilege, where there is discretion to withhold information which might have a detrimental effect on patient health if disclosed; 4) waiver, where die patient can waive his or her right to be informed, to make the treatment decision, or both; and 5) mentally ill and dangerous, where mentally ill patients who are imminently in danger of harming themselves or others may be involuntarily committed and treated” (Faden & Beauchamp, 1986; Sprung & Winick, 1989; Alberta Mental Health Act, 1990)
Confidentiality holds similar characteristics to an informed consent. Just as informed consent, confidentiality could also be between a physician and his or her patient, anything the patient may reveal is usually upheld in confidentiality unless permission is permitted by the patient to send his or her information to a third party (Medical Dictionary, 2007). As for the psychiatry side of confidentiality, they are to uphold it to the strictest of confidence, unless the information revealed becomes dangerous either to themselves, or to others around them (Segen's Medical Dictionary 2011). The major difference between informed consent and confidentiality is that informed consent is a specific medical procedure that is going to be performed. The patient has the right to consent to all the specifications that are required of that procedure and nothing more.
If informed consent or confidentiality are not followed its implications are rather an ethical issue. There are important legal aspects that should not be overlooked in both informed consent and confidentiality. The purpose of these procedures is more ethical in nature. It is also important for the provider or physician to document all aspects of the consent or confidentiality.
The process in which a physician will go about retrieving all the documents and or consents they are required to obtain; are to simply document the relationship between provider and patient. Informed consent will require a physical document and signature. This will require the patient to obtain the process in writing and to review the document. After the form has been reviewed than patient will give his or her consent in order to proceed with the procedure. Confidentiality is a much more verbal consent, and most physicians are required to legally keep his or her patients information in secrecy.

Reference
Crowhurst, B., & Dobson, K. S. (1993). Informed consent: Legal issues and applications to clinical practice. Canadian Psychology/Psychologie Canadienne, 34(3), 329-346. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/h0078838
Faden, R. & Beauchamp, T. (1986). A history and theory of informed consent. New York: Oxford University Press.
The American Heritage® Medical Dictionary. (2007). Retrieved December 16 2015 from http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/confidentiality
Segen's Medical Dictionary. (2011). Retrieved December 16 2015 from http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/confidentiality