Question

The first record of patient confidentiality dates to which society?

Ancient Greeks

Ancient Egypt

China in the mid-1400s

None of the above

Answer 1

The correct answer is A) Ancient Greeks.

The first record of patient confidentiality dates to Ancient Greek society.

In ancient Greece, Hippocrates is renown to have been a medical practitioner around the 5th to the 4th century BCE. In that time, medicine was not a profession and medical treatments were not validated by science. Healers used plants and herbs to create substances to be drank or creams to be rubbed. Other practitioners of the time such as Diocles of Carystus were known to be the first to record patient confidentiality to follow up with their treatments.

Answer 2

The correct answer is "Ancient Greeks". Patient confidentiality is included in one of the most widely known medical texts of Ancient Greeks: "The Hippocratic Oath". This Oath is historically taken by physicians, and is stated nowadays in medical schools. The Hippocratic Oath includes the principles of medical confidentiality and non-maleficences.