In what situation can a professional disclose confidentiality?
In what situation can a professional disclose confidentiality?….In my previous article, we analyst four different way confidentiality can be appreciated. In this article however, we shall be looking at those situation that would permit professional depreciation of confidentiality. So, let get started;……..In what situation can a professional disclose confidentiality…..⇓⇓
There are three clear situations in which in which it would be acceptable for professionals to disclose confidential information about their clients. These are discussed below:
1 Authorised Disclosure: In some circumstances, a client may authorise the professional to disclose confidential information.
2 Disclosure Required by Law: There are cases in which there are legal requirements to disclose confidential information. The power of the law is stronger than the duty of confidentiality. Such requirements may be divided into two major categories:
- Where the information is required as evidence in court. This might require a professional to either appear in court in person or provide relevant documents to the court. In either case, the professional has a legal obligation to comply with the request of the court. Hence, the professional must break the duty of confidentiality to the client even though the client has not or has refused to give permission for the evidence to be
- Where the law requires that information must be revealed to the relevant authorities in situations where a law has been contravened. A good example of such is in relation to money laundering.
3 Professional Duty of Disclosure: In some given situations a professional is required by the code of conduct of his or her profession to disclose some information that would otherwise be treated as confidential. Alternatively, such disclosure may be required either to satisfy a technical standard of the relevant profession or to protect the integrity of the professional or the profession itself. For instance, when a client lodges a complaint about a professional with the relevant professional body, the professional in question may breach the duty of confidentiality to the client in contest in order to protect his or her own professional integrity.
