All healthcare professionals are bound by medical confidentiality, which protects patients from the disclosure of health information they may wish to keep private. The patient is the only person automatically entitled to their health information, and no third party can claim a right to receive it—even with the patient’s agreement, which under French law does not remove a healthcare professional’s duty of confidentiality.
The information shared with relatives in intensive care is an exception made by the care team. Because of the profound psychological impact of seeing someone you love in a life-threatening condition, key information from the medical record may be shared with those close to the patient to help them understand what is happening, regain some sense of control and anticipate what may come next.
However, family members are not automatically entitled to this information, and the care team must be very careful when deciding with whom it can be shared. This is why, if the patient has not appointed a designated trusted person, the team will ask the family to name a primary contact who will receive the information and decide whether to pass it on to other relatives and friends.
To protect the confidentiality of the patient’s information, sensitive news is never given over the telephone, as the caller’s identity cannot be verified with certainty. You will need to come to the hospital to receive detailed information.
An initial meeting is generally offered to the patient’s closest relatives when the patient is admitted to intensive care. Further meetings may then be arranged when important developments make them necessary. Between scheduled meetings, you can request a formal discussion if needed, usually by making an appointment through the unit’s administrative staff.
Day-to-day updates are usually shared informally when you meet members of the care team. It can help to direct each question to the right professional. Doctors are often less readily available than other members of the team, but they are not the only people who can answer your questions:
Do not hesitate to approach the professional best placed to help.
During meetings with the medical team, it can be difficult to absorb everything and remember every question you wanted to ask.Never hesitate to take notes. Meetings between the medical team and the patient’s primary contacts are key moments of communication, but they can be difficult for families because they are:
Suggestions for making these meetings easier:
Please note: nurses and allied health professionals generally prefer a doctor to be present when new developments in the patient’s care are discussed, such as a new treatment, test result, sign or symptom. This simply avoids beginning a conversation that may lead to questions they cannot answer fully or precisely, which could leave you with even more frustration or anxiety.
Céline’s story Learning to manage medical information