A violation of patient privacy by sharing confidential information without authorization is called

• A. Breach of confidentiality
• B. Defamation
• C. Battery
• D. Slander

Answer: (A)

The main idea here is protecting a patient’s private information. A breach of confidentiality is when confidential health information is shared without authorization or a legitimate need to know, breaking the duty to keep patient details private. This is the core concern in patient privacy, and it can undermine trust and expose the provider to legal and professional consequences, since laws and ethics require that information be disclosed only with consent or for permitted purposes.

Defamation involves false statements that harm someone’s reputation, whether spoken (slander) or written (libel). It targets reputation, not the privacy of medical information. Battery is nonconsensual physical contact, a separate tort or criminal act. So, while those terms describe other harms, they don’t capture the act of sharing protected health information without permission.