Health Care Complaints Commission v Sriskanda [2021] NSWCATOD 42 (on AUSTLII) mostly concerns inappropriate prescription of drugs of addiction without authority, prescribing of drugs in excessive quantities for no apparent therapeutic reason and inadequate clinical records. It is of interest however for another aspect of the conduct complaints, being the disclosure of patient information to another patient.
At [15], complaint three set out that at a consultation with Patient K, the practitioner inappropriately disclosed confidential information, namely that Patient J had engaged in an extramarital affair a. without Patient J’s prior knowledge or consent; b. in the absence of a proper therapeutic or clinical reason and in the absence of a legal or public interest requirement.
The Tribunal made reference to the obligations under the Good Medical Practice Code of Conduct (at [92]).
By way of explanation the practitioner said that she was “not even thinking about confidentiality during this consult”. She was more concerned about Patient K either self-harming or harming her husband or the third-party and thought she would reduce such risk by telling her that her husband was unsure whether he wished to return to the relationship. The respondent said that, with hindsight, she realised revealing such information could have escalated the potential conflict between the two patients (at [93]).
A finding of professional misconduct was made in relation to that component of the complaints (at [108]).