Genetic conditions: whose secret to tell?

• Assessment of liability: justifying the imposition of a duty of care.
• Discussion: establishing a new duty of care?

The maintenance of trust between patient and clinician is crucial to the therapeutic relationship, but in fact there is no absolute duty of confidentiality. However, it is quite another matter for a third party to contend that they are owed a duty of care which requires a clinician to positively breach the duty of confidentiality to their patient. Nonetheless, that was the contention in ABC v (1) St George’s Healthcare NHS Trust (2) South West London and St George’s Mental Health NHS Trust (3) Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust [2020] EWHC 455 (QB), [2020] All ER (D) 01 (Mar).

Background

The claimant’s father was convicted of manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility and detained at the second defendant’s hospital under the Mental Health Act