Professional Secrecy And Privileged Communication In Medical Practice

A medical professional has the faith and confidence of society in him/her. It is his utmost duty and responsibility to uphold the ethical standards of confidentiality, set forth in the Hippocratic Oath, the Declaration of Geneva, the International Code of Medical Ethics and the World Health Organization. Communication between the physician and his patient is privileged. This information can only be divulged, in part, under special circumstances.

Legal Privilege and Third Party Disclosure: A Comparative Analysis of UK and the US Rules

The rules of evidence in common law courts rely on the weight of evidence that is deduced by the court based on its admissibility and credibility. This is subject to the evidence that has been disclosed by the client to their lawyer either before or after the litigation is commenced in court. The availability of legal professional privilege is a substantive legal right (not a procedural rule) and it enables a person to refuse to disclose certain documents in a wide range of situations. There can be no adverse inference that can be drawn from a valid assertion of legal professional privilege on evidential grounds by the court. Under English law, privilege applies to the advice given by external lawyers and in-house lawyers (acting in their capacity as lawyers) in the case or in contemplation of litigation. Privilege in the US is broader than in the UK and may vary over time and according to locations/context but a privileged communication under UK law may not be privileged in the US. The Attorney-client confidentiality and work-product doctrine are the most common US types of privilege and this will protect investigation material if its primary purpose is to provide information to obtain a legal advice (i. e. if it is not for a business purpose). The research question in this paper is to what extent internal investigations need to be disclosed where the client confidentiality is not applicable and the court orders disclosure. It compares the framework under which privilege can be exercised, and how in the US a different interpretation allows greater margin for client confidentiality when investigations include another party if documents are compiled in contemplation of legal proceedings.

La moda no es capricho. Mensajes y funciones del vestido en la Edad MediaFashion is not a whim. Messages and functions of clothing in the Middle Ages

Los siglos finales de la Edad Media vieron como nuevas modas en el vestir irrumpían en Europa con un ritmo cada vez más acelerado. Eran una de las manifestaciones de una sociedad más dinámica, que utilizaba la vestimenta como un código de comunicación privilegiado del estatus social y la pujanza económica y política. Sin duda, las cortes nobiliarias jugaron un importante papel en esa activación de la moda, pero el fenómeno alcanzó a buena parte de la población urbana y a las capas más acomodadas del campesinado, como lo demuestran las leyes suntuarias y la difusión del mercado de segunda mano. Hombres y mujeres rivalizaban por acceder a las novedades, que viajaban de un país a otro con cierta facilidad, sin que la indumentaria, no obstante, llegara a homogeneizarse del todo en el continente. De esta manera, el cuidado de la apariencia, y la constante adaptación a las novedades en el vestido, se convertirían ya entonces en acicates básicos para un nivel de consumo sostenido, que a la larga alentaría importantes mutaciones del sistema económico.PALABRAS CLAVE: Edad Media, moda, leyes suntuarias, consumo, gusto.ABSTRACTThe Late Middle Ages saw new fashions in clothing appearing in Europe with an increasingly frequent rhythm. These trends were one of the manifestations of a more dynamic society that used clothing as a privileged communication code of social status and economic and political importance. Noble courts no doubt played an important role in this activation of fashion, but the phenomenon reached a large part of the urban population and the more affluent layers of the peasantry, as evidenced by sumptuary laws and the spread of the second-hand market. Men and women competed for access to novelties, which travelled from one country to others quite easily, although clothing never became homogenous across the whole continent. Thus, the care of appearance, and the constant adaptation to new fashion trends, became two basic positive stimuli for a sustained consumption level, which, in the long run, promoted important changes in the economic system.KEY WORDS: Middle Ages, fashion, sumptuary laws, consumption, taste.