Citation

Higgs R. J. Med. Ethics 1985; 11(2): 100-104.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1985, BMJ Publishing Group)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

4009632

PMCID

PMC1375155

Abstract

Higgs presents a case study in which an adolescent incest victim, interviewed by a psychiatrist after a suicide attempt, reveals her situation only after receiving assurances of complete confidentiality. Baum (a surgeon), Bass (a psychiatrist), Whitehorn (a journalist), and Campbell (a professor of divinity) comment on the case as presented and on three hypothetical complicating situations involving the girl's request for plastic surgery to please her abusive father, the possibility of pregnancy, and physical injury from sexual assault. They discuss the ethics of violating confidentiality to consult other professionals, the desirability of counseling the abuser, the girl's strong sense of responsibility toward her troubled family, the implications of her suicide attempt, and the conflict between paternalism and autonomy in treating this minor caught in an adult dilemma.

Language: en