Nic DREW wrote:
> A couples child has been diagnosed with a terminal genetic illness,
> which has comes from the father. The father also has another child by
> another woman. The GP practice feel that the other woman should be
> advised of the situation so that the child can be examined to see if it
> too has the same genetic disorder. The GP practice know the name of the
> mother but not the address or her GP only what area she roughly lives
> in. What are peoples thoughts on looking up the info & passing onto the
> practice.
This is not a Data Protection issue. It is one of whether the possibility of
serious danger to public health is sufficient to allow a breach of
confidentiality in respect of someone's medical records. My initial
impression is that the Public Health Acts do not create general powers to
trace and make contact with such people, and for very good reason.
A responsible course of action would be to advise the carrier as to the need
for him to inform his offspring of the possibility they may have inherited a
very care condition. It would obviously be helpful if suitable leaflets,
which would include details of the various confidential diagnostic and
counselling services available to his children, were provided to the father.
To be honest, if I had inherited such an incurable condition, then I'm not
sure I'd want to know...
--
Graham Smith
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