Beginning with the Hippocratic Oath, Western health care providers have had strong guidance in regard to the maintenance of patient confidentiality. Certain non-Western cultures, such as the Chinese with equally long health care traditions, have had no

traditional requirements in this area. Write an essay in regard to the concept that patient confidentiality is an unnecessary principle for health care.

There will be many variations to the answer of this question. In some sense, it is a matter of cultural tradition. The breaking of patient confidences in our cultural setting has a very chilling effect on the patient-provider relationship and health care provision in general. In a cultural setting that is more group-oriented and less individualistic, the effect of breaking patient confidences would not be as problematic.