Hunter v Mann
A doctor's duty of confidence does not entitle him to refuse to give information to the police where a statute requires it, so a doctor was rightly convicted for refusing to identify a driver he had treated.
Facts
Dr Hunter treated a man and a woman who had been injured in a road accident, in which the driver had failed to stop. The police asked him to give information which might identify the driver, under section 168 of the Road Traffic Act 1972, which required any person to give information which might lead to the identification of the driver of a vehicle involved in such an offence. Dr Hunter refused, on the ground of medical confidentiality, and was convicted.
Legal principle
The Divisional Court dismissed his appeal. Boreham J said that a doctor owes a duty not to disclose information which he has gained in his professional capacity without the consent of the patient, but that the duty is subject to exceptions, including where disclosure is required by law. The statutory duty to give information to the police applied to any person, including a doctor, and overrode the duty of confidence. The court noted that the information required, the identity of the driver, did not involve the disclosure of medical details about the patient.
Related cases on confidentiality and medical information
- ABC v St George's Healthcare NHS Trust [2020] EWHC 455 (QB)
- Campbell v MGN Ltd [2004] UKHL 22, [2004] 2 AC 457
- R (Axon) v Secretary of State for Health [2006] EWHC 37 (Admin), [2006] QB 539
- W v Egdell [1990] Ch 359
- X v Y [1988] 2 All ER 648
- Z v Finland (1998) 25 EHRR 371
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