Patient’s Privacy and Relatives’ Rights in Genetic Research

Abstract

The article discusses the collision of patient's right to confidentiality and their relatives interests to know a risk to the health earlier and to increase chance to receive therapy promptly. The author makes an ethical and legal analysis of the existing provisions governing the issue, and attempts to find practical solutions to the question of the doctor-patient relationship.The approach that privacy can be limited according to the decision of the patient is the most doubtless according to legislation of considered countries. Doctor’s role is to assist to share patients’ genetic risks with concerned relatives and explains how it effects the health and, several tools for this are offered (e.x. letter about genetic risks with recommendations, opportunity to invite relative for consultation).So, privacy is not absolute right and can be limited, but in what cases it is ethical? Legislation orders doctor to save patients’ rights. At the same time professional duty of physician to help people in a broad sense.As a result, and due to burden of knowledge doctors are have to overcome the serious moral dilemma and find the compromise – how to inform patients relatives about risks and even prevent diseases and not to undermine trust of the patient. The legislation of most of the countries does not answer this question, recognizing the right to confidentiality not as an absolute right, but as a prevailing right in comparison with the relatives’ interests. At the same time, the problem is more detailed in “soft law” acts and more progressive approaches are proposed – to consider confidentiality on the family level (not individual) in sphere of genetics. Moving such approaches from soft law acts into the field of legislation will remove part of the decision-making burden from doctors.