The Wake

💡 Did You Know?

Torres was able to get information about Emma Radner from her therapist after they found Emma's body, he said the therapist would not discuss Emma prior to that because of doctor/patient confidentiality, but was willing to once they had confirmed her death. In most instances doctor/patient confidentiality extends beyond death, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPPA) guidelines require that said confidentiality is to be maintained for 50 years beyond the patient's death, with a few exceptions. When dealing with a deceased patient a physician can legally break confidentiality if they believe they have information that is relevant to a criminal investigation, and also they can ethically do so if they believe that it would have been in line with the patient's wishes for that information to be shared in order to assist with a criminal investigation. There are also situations where a physician is ethically and legally obligated to break confidentiality as well, if there is information about a patient that could be used to prevent imminent harm to a living person, or to prevent or assist in stopping a public health crisis, the physician would be obligated to share said information with the appropriate authorities. The most common situation where this would occur is if the deceased patient had some sort of communicable disease (like HIV or meningitis) and prior to death had contact with people that could have potentially infected them, the physician in question would be both ethically and legally obligated to inform either the persons at risk and/or the local Department of Public Health.