Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-9pm4c Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-26T09:27:59.523Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

6 - Revisiting the Fiduciary Relationship

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 February 2020

Michele Goodwin
Affiliation:
University of California, Irvine
Get access

Summary

Is it ethical when doctors breach their pregnant patients’ confidentiality? Is it legal? What about HIPAA (properly known as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996)? Are there different rules for pregnant women than for men? These are some of the questions women ask me after I give a talk. I understand this bewilderment and, for many, fear. At the heart of their questions resides this chilling thought: Could this happen to me or my daughter? Depending on where they live, the answer may be yes. And, increasingly, wealth will not save them. As this Chapter explains, physicians owe their patients care, confidentiality, loyalty, and trust, and the principle that undergirds all of this – the fiduciary relationship – is not contingent on the sex of the patient. However, with increased pressure from state legislatures and prosecutors, some doctors and nurses have abrogated their responsibilities to their patients. Among them, some are genuinely fearful that unless they adhere to whatever law enforcement demands of them, they may lose their licenses to practice medicine. Some of these doctors are genuinely ambivalent about their duties. These doctors tell me they feel powerless.

Type
Chapter
Information
Policing the Womb
Invisible Women and the Criminalization of Motherhood
, pp. 98 - 113
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×