Autonomy and confidentiality are one of the seven principles of the AOTA Code of Ethics. I find all of the ethics important, but I find this one the most commonly broken. Although many people probably do not know that they are breaking it, they are. Talking at the restaurant to your friends that evening about your clients and maybe not using a name but telling them the whole entire dialogue and session is still breaking the autonomy and confidentiality ethic.
My brother (used to) and mamma still does, work at a pharmacy in my home town as a tech. They see just about everyone I know in the town, and I have always respected both my brother and mom because never once did they talk about to me the medicine that they handled or who came through the doors of the pharmacy. They took the ethic of autonomy very seriously! As comforting as that is, my fiance currently works at a hospital, and shares an office with the PT's and OT's. He tells me often about how much they say in the office, using the clients names, and situations in front of him, and how bizarre he finds this (he works in Cardiac Rehab). So with that being said, I want to take all of my ethics seriously, with a strong focus on not breaking the autonomy code of ethics. If I was in the hospital for any reason whatsoever, I would not want people talking about me to other health care professionals or others in general if it is to just laugh at the situation or gossip. If there was a benefit to it of course I would accept it, but I would expect it to be handled in a professional and HIPPA respected manner.
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