Client confidentiality

Im my job at the bank i did.. I worked in the asset finance department and had footballers and z list celebs on our books (Katona for one but this was known so am ok to say that lol)..i was able to view just how much they were paying for cars and small business stuffs (restuarant anyone?!) was VERY intresting.....legally, nothing was to be disclosed as an employee, you had to act dumb with the info, like youd never seen it!

I have to keep everything confidential (which is annoying as I have one super famous client that I'd love to brag about!).

We have a duty to report money laundering, so if I think a client is using drug money to buy their house, I have to report it.

Yes I'm a children's nurse so I have to keep all information about my patients confidential. However if a child was to disclose something to me I have to tell the appropriate people. I cannot promise to keep things secret.

I used to volunteer as a Samaritan and we were told that even if someone called and said 'I've just murdered so-and-so, my name is X and I live at such-and-such' you couldn't report it. One lady who was being trained at the same time as me said that surely if she felt strongly enough about something then she could report the information anyway and leave the Samaritans. The trainer agreed that they couldn't stop her doing this, but they wouldn't recommend it as even if you did that, there's no guarantee that the information you've been given is correct. If it turned out to be false information, then the Samaritans lose their reputation as being confidential anyway.

However, if someone rings with a bomb threat then you can call the police.

I know that Childline do report people, and that's why some children will call Samaritans instead as they know the information will be kept confidential. I think it was thought that the need for a confidential service outweighed the possible benefits of reporting potentially true information.

Legal profession so everything is confidential, with the exception of the duty to report any suspected money laundering activity.

I don't work in the criminal sphere but the "could you defend someone you know is guilty" question is one that comes up a lot. You are absolutely not allowed to lie to the Court. If you know that your client is guilty you can't enter a plea of not guilty on his behalf. HOWEVER, there is nothing to stop your client telling you that he did it and you informing him that actually, he's wrong and what he did would not constitute the offence he's charged with. Similarly, it's quite possible simply to pick at the evidence presented by the prosecution without telling any lies. In the real world many people do not see the difference between defending a client's actions and attacking the prosecution's case, which can lead to some very heated discussions in the pub!

Customer confidentiality is important at Amazon, both internally and externally.

Internally, only people who need to, can see full customer details.

For example, in my role as a retail buyer, I don't get full customer details in my reports because I don't need them. When I'm assessing how a particular product/product range has performed my reports contain:

* Gender
* Age
* Town
* County
* Country (if applicable)
* Order history for the past 12 months

That's it.

I don't need to know the names or full details of the customer, because I build my profiles simply on age, gender and location. It's of no interest to me how many women named Sue buy a particular lipstick! The order history helps me determine any patterns in the customer's purchasing habits.

Externally Amazon does not sell customer details on to other businesses. Those of you who use Amazon, may notice that on other websites, you can sometimes get 'Amazon recommendation' ads pop up, these are based on your purchasing preferences but the website the add is on has no access to your details. However the advert thing can be turned off in your account settings. They only appear if you want them to.

Amazon will only release customer details, where the company has to, in order to abide by law.

Would Amazon flag your account if you were buying "dangerous" books (has no idea if Amazon sells Mein Kampf/A Communist Manifesto/120 Days of Sodom/etc)?

I'm not sure to be honest, as it's not my area. I suspect it will be the case, but don't want to say for sure. I will try to find out though.

I know the company has had to produce lists of customers who have purchased certain books in the past, to Government/law agencies, but what books they were I don't know.

When I worked in a credit card company I broke confidentiality once because a lady told me her waters had just broken and she was on her own and then the phone disconnected so I called 999 and called her an ambulance, and then called her back and managed to get hold of her, and waited on the phone till the ambulance arrived. She was grateful!

Now as a student nurse, again have to maintain confidentiality but would have to inform the appropriate channels in the case of abuse.

This

As a midwife I am obliged to report anything I deem suspicious to social services. I recently had a girl go off her head with me when she disclosed recent drug taking to me even though ' her child was with her gran'. It can cause so much hostility but child protection supercedes their confidentiality.

My OH is now a supervisor in Amazon, but I know when he was working the line they used to pack off "dangerous books" to folk. I once asked him does he not have to tell someone if it looks suspicious, he said no it wasn't his place to do this, but not sure if someone in admin might flag it up? x

As for the priests, I have always thought the confidentiality thing should go out the window is someone walks in and confesses to a serious crime, not all agree but I think it is ridiculous, I have murdered so and so.......what penance would the priest give out for that exactly?!

We break confidentiality only if threats to their life or someone else's life are made or if we are court ordered to do so.

Oh and we are legally required to report any suspicions of anything untoward about kiddies, abuse/ neglect etc and same for vulnerable adults. But we go to social servoices not the police with these reports.

I'm an OT lurker so hello ?

I'm a criminal defence barrister. No, I don't ask my clients if they are guilty. I tell them what the evidence is and ask what their account is and then advise them whether they're guilty in law or whether there is a defence. If I client tells me he is guilty I cannot then go on to represent him as though he wasn't guilty. If he tells me he's guilty but insists I proceed with his case as though he's not then I am what is known as "professionally embarrassed" and I have to withdraw from the case (only ever happened to me once in 6 years and not for the reason I just outlined there.)

It seems to be slightly different for solicitors as they see the client first and will often come up with the account together before I get instructed but that might be the cynic in me! As somebody else said earlier I categorically cannot lie to the court or mislead the court in any way.

If a client tells me he is going to harm himself (and I believe it's a genuine threat) and he's in custody then I report it to the cells who plce him under special watch.

If a client tells me he is going to harm somebody else (and I again think he's genuine) I will inform the police. It's never happened yet.

Hello Saspip - welcme to the dark side!!!

When I worked for an (nameless) organisation (where I was a supporter of people who had experienced sexual or domestic violence) there were only two reasons for breaking confidentiality - child abuse and terrorist activity. Never had to use either.

It's fairly important in my line of work. ?

In general, everything is confidential, though you are allowed to share with other professionals for the purposes of patient care. There are certain specific instances when we are allowed to breach confidentiality, for example if a patient or the general public are at risk, if someone comes in with a gunshot or knife wound (these ALL have to be reported to the police now), if someone is driving against medical advice (we can tell the DVLA) and of course, child protection cases.

It gets difficult in ICU because so many of our patients are unconscious and can't consent or refuse to have their information shared with their family, though in general as we're a primarily elective unit, it is addressed pre-op. It's especially tricky when people phone up for information, as we have no way of verifying who they are.

Also legal professional.

We have a code of conduct to advise us if we need to disclose and an ethics helpline.

We stop acting if we know something we shouldn't that affects the case and recently had to make a referral to social care ourselves which is quite bad considering we defend parents in care cases on a daily basis.

Its hard because we are in a community where everyone knows everyone and we have families and friends etc who get referred to us. I have met 4 members of 1 family for different cases. Its nuts that they all end up in the same position and hard not to answer their questions about each other.