Ethics roundtable debate Is a physician–patient confidentiality relationship subservient to a greater good.docVIP

Available online /content/9/3/233 Commentary Ethics roundtable debate: Is a physician–patient confidentiality relationship subservient to a greater good? Chris Cotton1, David W Crippen2, Farhad Kapadia3, Arthur Morgan4, Holt N Murray5 and Gil Ross6 1Intensive Care Paramedic with the South Australian Ambulance Service, Chairman of the South Australian Branch of the Australian College of Ambulance Professionals, and Associate Lecturer with Flinders University of South Australia, Adelaide, South Australia 2Medical Director, Neurovascular ICU, Department of Critical Care Medicine, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, USA 3Consultant Physician Intensivist, Hinduja National Hospital, Bombay, India 4Anaesthesiologist, Private Practice, Johannesburg, South Africa 5Chief Critical Care Fellow, Department of Critical Care Medicine, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, USA 6Attorney at Law, Sussman, Selig Ross, Chicago, Illinois, USA Corresponding author: David W Crippen, crippen@ Published online: 25 April 2005 Critical Care 2005, 9:233-237 (DOI 10.1186/cc3527) This article is online at /content/9/3/233 ? 2005 BioMed Central Ltd Abstract scene investigating. He does not volunteer whether the police questioned him personally or why the police let him leave. Except for bumps and bruises, he is not significantly Is a health care providers most proximal obligation to individuals or society as a whole? Our International panel of critical care providers grapple over the issue of whether patient–physician confidentiality exists as an open ended ideal it should be subservient to a greater good. injured enough to justify a radiograph or computed tomography scan of his head. However, I detect the odor of ethanol on his breath, and so I order a blood ethanol to evaluate his capacity further. It is my opinion that if