Comment on How come Nurses are not bound by the same rule is a lawyer is to a defendant or a wife to a husband or a priest? If someone says something on their death bed why are we suppose to report?

Khanzarate@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

A lawyer is considered an extension of your (legal) self. The reason is that if your lawyer can be compelled to talk about your private communications, then a client won’t actually get a fair trial, as they needed that lawyer aware of everything to defend them properly, but if prosecution could just call your lawyer to the stand and go “did they do it?”, no one would tell lawyers anything incriminating.

Your spouse is also considered to be part of you, legally. You have a right to confide in them, they are part of your life.

Same for a priest, many religions require confessions and have religious consequences for not confessing or a priest telling what they heard. The right for them protects them from being forced to break religious rules, although notably this one doesn’t exist everywhere.

Nurses and doctors are covered in the same way, actually. Revealing your medical information improperly is a HIPAA violation.

Aside from spousal privilege, all of these relate to your job. Your lawyer defends you, your priest hears your confessions, your doctors and nurses treat you. If you tell your priest about your heart condition and your lawyer about your blaspheming against god and your doctor about that time you murdered a man back in '03, then no privilege protects you at all.

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