Consent and confidentiality

Confidentiality, ethics, and informed consent.

In Fisher’s (January 2008) excellent and much-needed article, she rightly implied that when discussing ethical dilemmas, psychologists may find themselves saying “consult an attorney” almost as often as they find themselves saying, “consult a fellow psychologist.” Fisher’s article was meant to turn the ship so to speak, by providing psychologists with a foundation for thinking clearly about con...

Adolescent consent and confidentiality in the U.K.

In R (Axon) v Secretary of State for Health the Gillick competence test was confirmed. Commitment to childhood autonomy and privacy rights caused renewed academic criticism of the 'refusal' cases. This paper considers the form any changes to the law may take, and the potential consequences for the rights of parents and young people. Silber J.'s contention that parental Article 8 rights cease wh...

Consent and confidentiality in adolescent health care.

Termination of pregnancy and children: consent and confidentiality issues.

While the Choice on Termination of Pregnancy Act1 (Choice Act) allows a female of any age to consent to a termination of pregnancy,2 there are other statutes, such as the Child Care Act3 and the Children’s Act,4 that provide for different ages of consent for medical and surgical procedures. Doctors are not always certain whether young girls are legally capable of giving proper informed consent ...

SYMPOSIUM ON CONSENT AND CONFIDENTIALITY Consent and end of life decisions

This paper discusses the role of consent in decision making generally and its role in end of life decisions in particular. It outlines a conception of autonomy which explains and justifies the role of consent in decision making and criticises some misapplications of the idea of consent, particular the role of fictitious or “proxy” consents. Where the inevitable outcome of a decision must be tha...