Maurice,

Just a point in today's Glasgow Herald (5/7/01) on issuing without consent
and pertinent to your example is:
The BMA's guidance to GPs is that there is no absolute right to patient
confidentiality if this endangers the life of others.  This was presented in
the context of patients receiving methadone treatment and driving in/out of
the surgery car park.

Alex Mitchell
North Lanarkshire Council


-----Original Message-----
From: Maurice Frankel [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Thursday, July 05, 2001 12:36
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Passing info on - without consent?


Paul,

I can see the sense of your point 2 in relation to the example being
discussed, but I'm not sure about it as a general point. It would
imply that if you ask for consent, you give the individual an
_absolute_ veto over disclosure, in all circumstances, even if
disclosure  is in fact 'necessary' for one of the other schedule 2
purposes (and even in other respects the fairness requirement has
been met).

The implication of point 2 would be that, if you think disclosure may
be 'necessary', you should actively _avoid_ seeking consent.  Is
there IC guidance on this?

To take an extreme, but plausible example, this would  would mean
that if a psychiatrist asks a psychiatrically ill and potentially
dangerous patient for consent to pass  information about his
condition  to the GP and the patient refuses, the psychiatrist is
prohibited from passing the information on - even if this endangers
other people.

In that case the information would be sensitive data, requiring a
schedule 3 condition, one of which  expressly permits disclosure
after a refusal of consent [para 3(b) of Schedule 3] suggesting that
a refusal is not intended to exclude disclosure where is it necessary
on other grounds.

A similar conclusion could be drawn from s 7(4), which envisages that
information about a third party who has not consented to disclosure
(and perhaps even refused it), may be revealed in a subject access
request if it is still "reasonable in all the circumstances".

Maurice Frankel
Campaign for Freedom of Information

*********************************************************************
North Lanarkshire Council's Web Site
 http://www.northlan.gov.uk/
*********************************************************************
This communication shall not bind North Lanarkshire Council, its
officials or employees and shall not in any way constitute or form
part of  a contract.  Any view or opinion expressed in this
communication shall not be construed as that of North Lanarkshire
Council.

This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential and
intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they
are addressed. If you have received this email in error please notify
the system manager - [log in to unmask], or the Help Desk on
01698 302254.

This footnote also confirms that this email message has been swept by
MIMEsweeper for the presence of computer viruses.

www.mimesweeper.com
**********************************************************************

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
    If you wish to leave this list please send the command
       leave data-protection to [log in to unmask]
            All user commands can be found at : -
    www.jiscmail.ac.uk/user-manual/summary-user-commands.htm
all commands go to [log in to unmask] not the list please!
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^