Scott: The Hippocratic oath demands, specifically, that doctors never divulge information about patients  Hence the psychiatrist who released tapes of a poet' s therapy sessions after the poet' s death violated his oath by his actions, even though the tapes were released after the poet' s death and to the poet' s official biographer  It makes no difference that the poet' s published works were written in a confessional manner or that she had assured the psychiatrist that he could do with the tapes as he saw fit  Bonara: 1 agree that doctors are bound not to divulge patient information and would not myself release such tapes without written permission from the patient  Nevertheless, I disagree that the circumstances were irrelevant in this case
I do not think the poet' s psychiatrist violated the Hippocratic oath
Since a psychiatrist could influence a patient's opinions during therapy, any directives to the psychiatrist by the patient must be interpreted in the light of the patient's actions outside the therapeutic setting.