Hi Bex,

As I said, perhaps the laws and ethical rules governing doctor/patient confidentiality are different in England. Although I'd be surprised if it is much different than what is practiced here in the U.S. because we derived the very concept of doctor/patient confidentiality from the English Common Law. Here in the U.S. it is unethical and considered a breach of doctor/patient confidentiality for a doctor to disclose patient information like this to a third party without the express consent from said patient.

I won't go into the semantics of the legal distinction between doctor-patient priviledge and the ethical distinction of doctor-patient confidentiality.

Anyway, basically the professional duty of confidentiality covers not only what patients may reveal to their doctors, but also what doctors may independently conclude or form an opinion about, based on their examination and assessment of patients. The rules protecting the confidentiality are quite inclusive. The duty of confidentiality even continues after a patient stops seeing or being treated by their doctors.

It's that simple.

Hugs,
SomedaySoon (Sharon)