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 any psychiatrist's divulging to the public information about a patient could undermine the trust of other patients in their psychiatrists, no patient can release a psychiatrist from the obligation to keep patient information confidential.