Why would doctors break a medical confidence when it was clearly not a police situation?

Question

I was hospitalize for heart problems after being threatened with a gun. No shots were fired and I didn't report it. I just went to make sure my heart was OK after the rush.

Answer 1

I wouldn't be so sure that it isn't require to report someone being threatened with a gun. A doctor has to think about their license and the potential for being sued. If you know someone was threatened with a gun and decided to not report it and that person ended up dead later, the family could potentially sue the doctor for being aware of the situation and not acting.

The doctor did the right thing, in my opinion, ethically and legally. Maybe you don't see it as "necessary" to report a situation like that by law, but I think any doctor worth their license WOULD report it. It is not breaking medical confidence if they feel someone is in danger.

Answer 2

It's the law.

Most states require medical personnel to report assaults. Threatening with a gun qualifies as an assault.

You may be OK with being threatened with a gun, but the next person this thug threatens might get shot.

Answer 3

Basically, physician-patient confiidentiality can be breached (in virtaullay all US states) when a matter of imminent danger to the patient or others comes up.  This may represent homicidal ideation, suiicidal ideation or fear for one's life.

In these cases physician-patient confidentiality can ande should be breached.

If a patient tells me s/he has a specific plan to kill him or herself or act in a manner that will put others in danger, I am compelled by my State Medical Board to breach confidentiality to ensure the safety of others.

The only other situation when confidentiality is breached (in my state) is when a patient is diagnosed with a specific infectious illness where one poses a threat to the health of others.

Physician-patient confidentiality is taken quite seriously, both legally and ethically, but ther are, indeed, circumstances when it must be breached for the welfare of others (not many situations).