GP cleared of privacy slip in child’s mental health assessment
The preschooler's father lodged a complaint after the GP recorded a possible family history of psychiatric issues
A GP did not breach patient privacy by mentioning the mental health of a child’s grandparents’ in the preschooler’s mental health assessment, a tribunal has ruled.
The assessment was completed at a Melbourne clinic in December 2019, after the child’s mother requested a referral to a psychologist.
In the family history section, the doctor wrote that the child’s father was not well known to the mother and that “his parents may have mental health issues”.
The child’s father then lodged a complaint about the GP and clinic, alleging the information about his parents had been recorded without their knowledge or consent.
