PROTECTING PATIENT CONFIDENTIALITY IN NIGERIA: LEGAL, ETHICAL,AND PUBLIC HEALTH PERSPECTIVES

Abstract

Confidentiality is the cornerstone of civil claims requesting compensation for a damage caused by health care professionals. Poor awareness and illiteracy in the community today have made most individuals unwilling to seek their legal entitlements stemming from medical secrecy. This study looked at professional and medical confidentiality in Nigeria. The purpose was to investigate the legal, ethical, and public health dimensions of patient confidentiality and the barriers preventing its effective protection. This study adopted a doctrinal methodology, examining existing legal frameworks, ethical guidelines, and relevant judicial precedents pertaining to medical confidentiality in Nigeria. Due to false information, misunderstandings, budgetary constraints, and a fear of the unknown, it was found that there are either none at all or very few medical confidentiality suits in existence today. Many Nigerians are ignorant of their rights on matters of medical secrecy. Therefore, this study concludes that a significant lack of awareness and numerous socio-economic barriers severely limit the enforcement of patient confidentiality rights in Nigeria, undermining both legal recourse and public health outcomes. The researchers recommend that strict measures should be taken to educate the public on their rights to medical confidentiality. The court should discourage the act by penalising the offenders, which will in turn serve as a deterrent to others. To inform medical professionals of their legal obligations to their patients, hospital administrations should set up training sessions on confidentiality or law and medicine.