Page 103 - Human Rights
P. 103
Faculty of Nursing
Adult care Nursing Department
‘The nurse holds in confidence personal information and uses judgement in sharing this
information’. Confidentiality of patient information is essential to maintaining a bond of trust
between the patient and the health professional and protecting the human rights of the patient.
A breach of confidentiality could harm the interests of the patient as well as the therapeutic
relationship.
In some cases, it could put the patient at risk.
However, there is no uniformly agreed legislative standard on maintaining confidentiality in
specific cases.
Nurses in Europe should be aware of the importance that European human rights case law
attaches to confidentiality in the relationship between patient/client and the nurse which can only
be set aside under specific circumstances, namely “in accordance with the law and [as] is necessary
in a democratic society”.
In some societal contexts, privacy is seen as an important corollary to confidentiality; in others,
privacy is not given the same weight.
Infringing a person’s privacy may represent an attack on their dignity and could be in breach of
the European Convention on Human Rights.
Some commentators maintain that privacy can promote dignity and it has been suggested that
nurses can inadvertently violate patients’ dignity through not respecting their privacy.
3.2.4 Patient dignity
‘Inherent in nursing is respect for human rights, including the right to life, to dignity and to be
treated with respect’.
99 Academic Year 2025/2026
