Do you think Pdoc and T, abide by their privacy "oath"?

It is my own opinion that a vast majority do not. But then, I feel a vast majority of medical personel do not (having worked for a major hospital, unfortuately I have seem the delving into personal information by people - for non-medical reasons also the abuse of medical information in general).

After my recent and not so recent experience with my first T of 20 years ago....

I mean really, can we truely trust our T, do you not think that they will not , when the occasion arises discuss you? And "no", some have nothing better to do with their time.

Well, I certainly caught more than a couple "talking out of school". And when that happens, what is the answer?
Are our T suppose to be perfect?
I mean really, are they not also people with real life problems?

Therapists can discuss clients, as long as they do not give out identifying information.

Ex: I am in a walker, so if my T were to talk about a client in a walker, that is only in their 20's, and attends the collge here in town, without saying my name, she has identified me, which is a break in confidence.

I am pretty certain my T discusses me - both with other clients and at home. Some of my situations I'm sure are used as examples for other clients, just as she will use an example of other clients with me. She does it in such a way that I couldn't identify the client even if I tried. That is not breaking their oath.

I hope this kinda addressed your statement. I just got done with therapy - my head is kinda foggy.

In my case, it was therapist... with my name... not colleagues in the same practice - not both treating me - so thereby... should not have happened.

In another case an ENT who knew my pdoc as a friend.. and with my name, thereby should not have happenned.

In another case, 10 years worth of my drawings and my thoughts and not my name - used in a book by a T.

In other cases where I work professionally, a co-worker who knew had a friend in my docs office found out confidential info for my co-worker about me. And then released that info at my place of employment.

In another case a co-worker finding that her friends boy friend was married, they called his wife - they found the info thru the use of files.

In another case, a co-worker found out her ex-boyfriend had herpes - released the info to his work- again via files.

I quess, I am saying I don't have a question - simply a lack of faith in our system and in our T and Pdocs.

It hurts me, angers me to a small extent and frustrates me because though I gave up my T...
I cannot give up my Podc.. because of meds ot he would be kicked to the curb too.

Hi Freewill,

I previously worked at a social service agency that was scrupulous to the extreme about "release of information" in any sense. However, I was surprised by something my therapist once said that suggested to me that she did not have a stringent view on privacy.

I am sure all the stuff about Hippa regulations came about because of the lack of confidentiality and privacy that existed and many people knew of confidentiality and privacy breaches. I hope it's better now with Hippa but human nature being what it is I would be surprised if breaches still don't happen.

Meta

It is not only Providers exchanging information on pts it is also pharmacies. If there is a red flag that pops up on a person's file in a pharmacy they will call the Dr's office and inform them of the behavior (Dr shopping, multiple refills, possibly forged Rxs.) The Dr's office, in turn, may do a search of local pharmicies to see if the pt is also filling meds there, and the pharmacy will give then the history on the pt and what Dr's prescribed how much and when. Then the pt could possibly be discharged from the practice based on this information or if there is enough evidence the pt could face the police.

This also may happen even without the pharmacy calling. If there is suspicion of drug seeking the Doc will have an assistant do a seach of pharmacies as stated above.

Yes, our T's are human. They are not supposed to be perfect, but they are supposed to conduct themselves professionally.

I trust that my T holds himself accountable, professionally, and would not discuss me or my problems/issues/anything with anyone.

I am sorry that your experience has not been a positive one. I would move on and try really hard not to focus on the negative but to use this experience in creating a path to move forward, whatever shape that may take.

Best of luck.

It sounds like you had some terrible experiences with Ts, Pdocs and others. I think most of them do follow the ethical code but not all. I have a family member who was pushed to see sometime of counselor (ultra sad poetry found by someone in dorm) and the counselor reported too much information to the referring person. I felt that the counselor should have kept the follow-up information to a minimum but this T/Pdoc or whatever he/she was didn't.
I had a co-worker who went to a camp and was excited to see a familiar face. This person went over and said something like "I know your family member. I fill his/her drugs at _________ pharmacy." This person was fired. I was shocked because I had never considered that the fact that a person has a prescription is PHI (personal health information) but it is. I have to get my prescriptions at my own pharmacy where I work. To the best of my knowledge, noone has passed my information around.
As for my T talking to others, she is allowed to talk about me to others in the same agency such as my Pdoc, consult with colleagues etc. If she tries to consult with someone outside of the agency, she should do a consent form.
A classmate of mine had to do an interview for a class. He wanted to do a real client. My teacher said "Okey but make sure that you get the proper release of information. Any time that a client is used in a class assignment, a form must be filled out." My classmate changed his mind. I am not surprised. A co-worker of mine is starting an AODA group and asked her where. She told me and I said good that is not where my practicum is. I didn't want to put my ability to keep my mouth shut to the test that quickly. I would also say that it helps a person keep a confidence if he/she does not have any relationship with the person outside of the office. I didn't want to get into any kind of relationship with my co-worker that could be anything like a therepeutic one for this reason.
My T and teachers do reference real clients however they don't describe age, appearance or anything like that. I will do the same when I start working as an addiction counselor.
As for marriage information, that is probably public information. I know that someone can look someone up for a criminal history on-line. As for herpes, I suspect that if the person is a sexual partner, then she might need to be notified in order to protect herself.
Also, my doctor's nurse has an annoying tendency to get it mixed up. She called me once about an Effexor prescription. Fortunately, she only said a first name however, I hope that she will be more careful in the future. If a person lives with someone or shares insurance, it might be harder to keep secrets. I mean if someone lived with me and opened my mail, he/she would see mail about therapy.

I'm sorry you've felt this way. Unfortunately, the privacy act really only protects the doctors and not us. Once we sign that, we give them permission to discuss us, share info with anyone they feel good about doing so with (?) When the attorneys in my case, both mine and the opposition, gained access to my private medical records, they are no longer under the privacy clause/act... and not liable if the information goes further. So it isn't illegal to share info about you, if you have signed a privacy permission slip.

However, that doesn't mean it isn't unethical. It is in some cases. There has "always" been a "confidentiality" agreement between professionals who have need to discuss patients with others for the benefit of patients or for their own safety. It's a gentleman's agreement that "I" (as if a doctor) won't discuss the information that "you" (as if a doctor) give me about a patient, but we agree to keep the information between us. When I was first injured, there was a whole team meeting weekly to discuss me and other patients they had in common... it was the BEST treatment I ever received! (Mangled care ruined that though.)

Please discuss the situation with the doctor involved. Let him know how you feel about it, and work through this. It might be you can cause the doctor to be careful in the future, thus preventing a lot of problems for you, and others?

TC

freewill, I hope you will discuss this with your T. It is a great topic, and Ts should be prepared to explain their policy to clients.

There have been times my T needed to contact another professional on my behalf. He has me fill out a release form for him to contact the other person and discuss my issue.

In session, he has sometimes used the example of other clients to make a point, but he never uses any information that would allow me to identify them. My lawyer does the same thing.