Confidentiality is best defined as:

• A. A duty to share all patient data with family
• B. An obligation to keep secret the personal health information of patients unless they consent to disclosure
• C. A physician's obligation to provide care regardless of cost
• D. The duty to tell patients the truth about their prognosis

Answer: (B)

Confidentiality means protecting a patient’s personal health information and sharing it only with people the patient has authorized, or when disclosure is legally required or ethically justified. This obligation preserves trust, supports honest communication, and respects patient autonomy. The correct idea is that you keep information private unless the patient consents to disclose. Sharing everything with family without consent breaches privacy, providing care regardless of cost is about access and justice rather than privacy, and telling a patient the truth about prognosis concerns honesty rather than confidentiality.