Legal Definitions - physician-patient privilege

Physician-patient privilege is a legal protection that ensures the privacy and confidentiality of conversations between a medical professional and their patient. This protection allows patients to fully disclose their medical information to their doctors without fear of legal consequences.

The privilege only applies to legal proceedings, meaning that medical professionals cannot testify about a patient's medical information unless the patient waives this privilege. However, information shared between a patient and their physician that is not related to their direct medical care may not be privileged.

Either a patient or a physician can assert physician-patient privilege in a lawsuit. However, the rules governing this privilege may vary from state to state.

For example, if a patient tells their doctor about a medical condition that they do not want others to know about, such as a mental health issue, the physician-patient privilege would protect that information from being disclosed in a legal proceeding.

Physician-patient privilege is different from doctor-patient confidentiality, which protects a patient's medical records and information outside of the context of a lawsuit. Doctor-patient confidentiality is granted by state and federal statutes, such as the HIPAA Privacy Act.