Patient Rights: The Yale Experience

Abstract

The development of a policy of confidentiality and privacy at the Division of Mental Hygiene, Yale University Health Services, is traced from the earliest reference to it in 1933 through the present. The factors relating to confidentiality within the university are distinguished from those relating to inquiries from outside agencies. The distinction between information requested in connection with further therapy and information requested for use in evaluation for employment or selection is made. In the latter instance, the establishment of a policy of releasing no information to outside agencies, even with a waiver from the patient, is described and explained.