The bioethical and legal basis of family medicine privacy

Abstract

Introduction. Privacy in family medicine is a mandatory necessity in the competent medical act that ensures the quality of primary health care and continues with prevention and education actions, and with therapeutic and recovery actions, contributing to promoting the medical condition of the patient, of his family and the community. The medical obligation of keeping the medical secret is stipulated by the law of the Republic of Moldova regarding health protection. Nevertheless, in medical practice there are situations when it is very difficult to keep the privacy out of medical as well as nonmedical reasons, and the life and health of the third party individuals can be in danger because of not disclosing the truth. Aim of study. The purpose of the study is to present the bioethical and legal basis of privacy in family medicine and to show some exceptions in which a third party with a legitimate interest may have access to patient information. Methods and materials. Legal acts of the Republic of Moldova on the protection of personal data; national orders and rules on the organization of primary care; empirical data of a personal study, conducted in October-November 2021. Methods used: surveys, observation, description of the bioethical principle, etc. Results. Privacy protects the relationship between the family practitioner and each patient, ensuring that his health quality is kept, improved, and protected. Nevertheless, the privacy bioethical basis, as well as the legal one, form a conditioned privilege, rather than an absolute one, nowadays finding so many exceptions in which a third party individual with a legitimate reason can have access to the patient's information. Family medicine can be nowadays another deviation, because its conceptual framework does not follow the old treatment pattern of the individual alone, and uses a more advanced one both of the individual, as well as his entire family. Conclusion. Keeping the privacy is the patient's right, as well as a moral and legal obligation of the medical staff inside the family medicine. Passing on patient personal data from the family physician to a third party person, can be necessary for diagnosing diseases, as well as for successfully treating family diseases. Therefore, during the first medical visit, the family physician must inform the patients that he will share with other members of the family some necessary and relevant aspects in order to treat the problem.