Law &. Ethics for Medical Careers 5th Edition by Karen Judson,Carlene Harrison

Exercise 44

ETHICS ISSUE 3: Some sources distinguish between privacy in health care and confidentiality. According to Harman, privacy refers to the right of an individual to be let alone and to the fact that patients must authorize release of information. Confidentiality refers to limiting disclosure to authorized persons and ensuring protection of records documenting communication between providers and patients.
The health care practitioners listed below have followed the letter of HIPAA law. Have they also acted ethically? Explain why or why not.
A patient asks to see her medical records and a medical office records assistant complies, but slams the records down in front of the patient and mutters about being "too busy" for this service.
A physician does not refuse to see a patient who declares that he will not complete his notification preference form, but his abrupt manner discourages the patient from continuing to see the physician.
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A patient asks for a list of disclosures his physician has made of his health information within the past six years, and he is politely asked to submit his request in writing.
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The person responsible for faxing a patient's protected health information from one physician's office to another sends the information to the wrong fax number.
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