Just Between Us

On Doctor-Patient Confidentiality and the First Amendment

 

  Picture this; you are a defense lawyer in a courtroom, and your client, a doctor, has been sued.  The doctor claims that he has the right of free speech, and should be allowed to talk about his patients whenever he'd like, but the lawsuit says otherwise.  According to the prosecutor, your client has violated the terms of doctor-patient confidentiality and owes him 500,000 dollars in damage. After a heated courtroom debate, the verdict is out.  It looks like Dr. Blabbermouth has to pay up, and fast!

 

  This situation is becoming more and more common across the country as more doctors rights are being infringed. From seemingly good to perfectly dreadful, new laws are being passed about what doctors are and aren't allowed to talk about. This brings up the question of what counts as speech that can be protected by the First Amendment.  Many people only count "speech" as advertising, protesting, or even casual conversation. The problem here is that not enough people count talking to a doctor as valid conversation, or "real speech".  This is their privacy at stake! There is nothing more important than keeping that strange lump on your chest a secret, right?  Wrong.

 

  Believe it or not, there is a higher law of the land than pinky swearing to keep a *eh hem* "large freckle" a secret, and it is called the Constitution of the United States of America.  Ever heard of it?  If not, then let me inform you that the Constitution is the highest form of law in the land to be obeyed above all else.  The Constitution protects our most basic rights, including life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness as well as freedom of speech.  Sound familiar? It should.  This is from the United States Declaration of Independence, or to non Americans, these are the words of enlightenment philosopher John Locke.  According to Locke, every human being is endowed with these unalienable rights since the moment we are born.  Who are you to take away our most basic of all basic rights?  That's it, no one.  No body can infringe upon our rights.  This country was founded upon the ideals of freedom; liberty and justice to all! To refuse this to any person would be Un-American.

 

To conclude, all forms of interpersonal communication counts as "speech", and all Americans no matter what their profession should be under the protection of the Constitution.  Remember this next time you are at the doctor's office or in a hospital and think of the most basic rights of all human beings and the highest law of the land.

 

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