Being undocumented is a risk factor for mental illness, and immigration status relates prominently to overall health. That’s enough to consider it protected health information under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act Privacy Rule.

Preferential treatment of “very important” patients is not only unjust but also can compromise patient safety, which is overlooked in medical ethics.

While some physicians try to avoid ethics consultations, their participation can be essential for good patient care.

The AMA Code of Medical Ethics' opinion on confidentiality of patient disclosure and circumstances under which it may be breached.

Because maintaining strict confidentiality is often untenable, or even illegal, determining the extent of protections in the postmortem context ultimately entails a weighing of the various interests at stake.

If wealth screening and patient care must be mixed, they would be safer and more effective if guided by a policy developed with input from physicians.

Maintaining an adolescent’s confidentiality while answering his or her parents’ questions about their child’s change in mood and behavior can be challenging.

Physicians are encouraged not to breach confidentiality by disclosing a patient's genetic information to their offspring or other family members.

Medical ethicists have discussed the use of race classification in determining disease prevalence and the response of specific ethnic groups to different medications.

Psychiatrists can take various steps to uphold patient confidentiality when faced with a court order to disclose a patient's medical records.