Philosophy Club Meeting Sept. 21
Privacy and Health Care –
Is it Wrong not to be Candid with my Doctor?
Please join us in Auerbach 320 or online this Wednesday, September 21th from 1-2 for our next meeting of the University of Hartford Philosophy Club as University philosophy professor Brian Skelly presents for discussion the topic: “Privacy and Health Care – Is it Wrong not to be Candid with my Doctor?
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We all sense an implicit injunction not to be dishonest to one another; it is a cornerstone of human socialness without which we could not cultivate the trust relationships requisite to our own survival and prosperity as a species. Nonetheless, and in spite of some denial of the fact, we routinely engage in less than candid communication, while there are only certain times when we are expected or even called upon to be candid, that is, “to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth”. Although there may be disagreement about where to draw the line between being dishonest and not being candid, we mostly accept that there is such a line to be drawn. Drawing that line correctly and abiding by it is no mere remote concern, but rather is relevant to success in our everyday dealings.
The difference between honesty and candidness (and their opposites) has to do with what kinds of information we are obliged to share with others, what kinds we may legitimately keep private, and how we choose to keep to ourselves, hide, or mask the information we have chosen not to share. The general consideration of privacy as a sacred right would be meaningless unless it sanctions the propriety of our keeping certain things to ourselves.
We can begin to chip away at this distinction by noting that certain people at certain times have the right to know certain things about us, and it is therefore wrong for us to keep that information private. In such cases, keeping the information private in spite of being mindful of the right of others to know would not just be uncandid, but dishonest. But even in cases where a right to know may be lacking, keeping information private by dissimulating or fabricating might still be considered dishonest, unless warranted by some overriding concern of safety or well-being. So, to steer clear of dishonesty requires not only declining to keep private things others have a right to know, but also, except for in extreme cases as noted above, declining to go to deceptive lengths to hide the information.
This current reflection aims at the question of the nature of the trust relationship between patient and health care provider. Does it require candidness or not with regard to all matters concerning one’s health and all that is relevant to it? I will make a limited case for legitimate non-candidness within well prescribed boundaries.
The success of health care requires the cultivation and maintenance of trust relationships between patient and provider. When trust breaks down between them, either the one will become alienated from the other, or vice versa, or both. Needless to say, since alienation, the opposite of human socialness, is the bane of organizational life, the breakdown of trust will become a great impediment to effective care, and is likely to have a negative spillover effect on other patients and providers as well, spreading like an infection through the system.
Furthermore, to cultivate genuine trust requires honesty. To be sure, I may feign honesty to cultivate trust, but the result is not genuine trust. Rather, it is a manipulation of the unsuspecting person being duped by an untrusting deceiver to obtain trust-like results in the behavior of the one deceived. It is questionable how long such a trick can work, but it seems doomed to fail sooner or later, certainly lacks the intrinsic stability of genuine trust, and even at best, is one-way, and so does not provide the good of the produce of genuine dialog which trust relationships yield…. (Full document attached.)
An ongoing weekly tradition at the University since 2001, the University of Hartford Philosophy Club is a place where students, professors, and people from the community at large meet as peers. Sometimes presentations are given, followed by discussion. Other times, topics are hashed out by the whole group.
Presenters may be students, professors, or people from the community. Anyone can offer to present a topic. The mode of presentation may be as formal or informal as the presenter chooses. Please be a part of us as we continue this great tradition both in the classroom and online. For more information, please contact Brian Skelly at bskelly@hartford.edu
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