Privacy and patient-clergy access: perspectives of patients admitted to hospital

Journal of Medical Ethics 32 (7):398-402 (2006)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

Background: For patients admitted to hospital both pastoral care and privacy or confidentiality are important. Rules related to each have come into conflict recently in the US. Federal laws and other rules protect confidentiality in ways that countermand hospitals’ methods for facilitating access to pastoral care. This leads to conflicts and poses an unusual type of dilemma—one of conflicting values and rights. As interests are elements necessary for establishing rights, it is important to explore patients’ interests in privacy compared with their desire for attention from a cleric.Aim: To assess the willingness of patients to have their names and rooms included on a list by religion, having that information given to clergy without their consent, their sense of privacy violation if that were done and their views about patients’ privacy rights.Methods and participants: 179 patients, aged 18–92 years, admitted to hospital in an acute care setting, were interviewed and asked about their preferences for confidentiality and pastoral support.Results: Most patients did not want to be listed by religion; 58% did not think hospitals should give lists to clergy without their consent and 84% welcomed a visit by their own clergy even if triggered from a hospital list.Conclusions: Values related to confidentiality or privacy and pastoral care were found to be inconsistent and more complicated than expected. Balancing the right to privacy and the value of religious support continue to present a challenge for hospitals. Patients’ preferences support the importance of providing balance in a way that protects rights while offering comprehensive services

Other Versions

No versions found

Links

PhilArchive

    This entry is not archived by us. If you are the author and have permission from the publisher, we recommend that you archive it. Many publishers automatically grant permission to authors to archive pre-prints. By uploading a copy of your work, you will enable us to better index it, making it easier to find.

    Upload a copy of this work     Papers currently archived: 102,440

External links

Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

Similar books and articles

Elderly patients also have rights.M. D. Perez-Carceles, M. D. Lorenzo, A. Luna & E. Osuna - 2007 - Journal of Medical Ethics 33 (12):712-716.

Analytics

Added to PP
2010-08-24

Downloads
35 (#663,910)

6 months
10 (#383,814)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Citations of this work

No citations found.

Add more citations

References found in this work

Privacy, intimacy, and personhood.Jeffrey Reiman - 1976 - Philosophy and Public Affairs 6 (1):26-44.
A Companion to Contemporary Political Philosophy.R. Goodin & Ph Pettit - 1995 - Tijdschrift Voor Filosofie 57 (1):158-159.

Add more references