The nation . nciple. Withoutthe assurance of confidentiality, med-ical treatment, and especially, psy-chiatric treatment, would be impos-sible. The psychiatrists reply to thesecriticisms made his posi-tion clear, if u did little to clarifythe ethical issues: 1 told my pa-tients [some of whom had asked himfor assurance that their own con-fidences would not be broken] thaithey had nothing to won\ aboul aslong as they didnt delect.* The ex-ecutive secretary of the County 326 Medical Society declared, accordingto the Washington Post of Sept. 22,that the psychiatrists disclosures re-flect
The nation . nciple. Withoutthe assurance of confidentiality, med-ical treatment, and especially, psy-chiatric treatment, would be impos-sible. The psychiatrists reply to thesecriticisms made his posi-tion clear, if u did little to clarifythe ethical issues: 1 told my pa-tients [some of whom had asked himfor assurance that their own con-fidences would not be broken] thaithey had nothing to won\ aboul aslong as they didnt delect.* The ex-ecutive secretary of the County 326 Medical Society declared, accordingto the Washington Post of Sept. 22,that the psychiatrists disclosures re-flected those of any patriotic final fact has a bearing onthe ethical dilemma. The House com-mittee, in its final report on the case,used none of the information fur-nished by the doctor. Apparently, ingiving out confidential informationembarrassing to the patient and hisfamily, the doctor had contributednothing which even the House Un-American Activities Committee feltworthy of relaying to the But by then, of course, the leak tothe press had already occurred. The problem any. doctor facesis one of deciding when, and to whom,he should reveal what he has seen orheard with regard to a patient. TheHippocratic oath helps him little,because the proscription against re-vealing that which ought not to bespoken abroad gives no criteria fordetermining that which ought to bespoken. For help in his problem thephysician must look to the nature ofhis profession and the place it holdsin society. The entire oath, his train-ing and his life arc dedicated to thehealing of the sick. This is the doc-tors professional role; if he abrogatesit, he has nothing special to con-tribute to his community. The physician may look with envyat his colleagues in the law and min-istry. The privileged nature of thepriest-penitent or. lawyer-client re-lationship has long been recognized,\\)i\ vigorously protected. Societyapparent!) feels that the contribu-tion that these professions make tothe com
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