MEDICAL SECRETS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22108, 14 May 1935, Page 9

MEDICAL SECRETS

OLD QUESTION REVIVED UNSOLVED TRUNK MYSTERYLONDON, May 5 Should doctors tell? The old question is revived in a rather different way by police appeals in connection with the still unsolved Brighton trunk mystery No. 1. The subject is discussed in the current number of the British Medical Journal, in which Dr. Hawthorne, chairman of the Ethical Committee of the British Medical Association, reveals that local practitioners were asked by the police whether any woman of the age and condition of the victim had sought advice and not subsequently been seen again. Brighton doctors asked the association what their attitude should be, and Dr. Hawthorne replied thft% the requests of the police should not be acceded to, as to do so would be a gross breach of professional confidence and might involve the doctor in an action for damages. There is, however, no hard and fast rule, and doctors must decide the question in accordance with individual conscience. A judge may overrule a plea of professional secrecy, as in a case in the King's Bench Division, when Mr. Justice Macnaghten ordered a doctor to disclose a patient's secret, in the interests of justice. ! The judge then replied to the doctor's plea of professional secrecy: " There is no such privilege known to the law, and you are bound to assist the jury by answering any relevant questions." The late Mr. Justice McCardie made a similar ruling in a divorce case several years ago. (