Margaret Murphy is 16 years old and has lived all her life in Waimahana, a small West Coast town.
It is a small close knit community and Margaret’s family have had the same GP since her parents moved to the town more than 20 years ago.
She likes the GP and trusts him, although given her good health; she has not had too many occasions to visit the doctor other than routine immunisations and seasonal illnesses. She does visit the medical centre regularly though as her aunty works part time as a medical secretary and Margaret will often call in for a lift home after school.
Margaret has a problem.
She is pretty sure she has contracted genital herpes.
While she was able to arrange an appointment when she knew her aunty was not at work she is very concerned because her aunty will likely be the person filing her medical notes, as the small medical centre does not hold electronic records.
When the GP confirms her suspicions she asks the GP if he can give her a prescription but to not enter the information into her medical record. Her family follow a strict religion and she is very scared if this information was to get back to her parents.
She made the appointment with this particular doctor as she thought she could rely on the confidentiality of a doctor well known to the family and that he was trustworthy.
What should the doctor do?
It is proposed that the doctor omit the information from his notes.