Did I Accidentally Give My Physician Permission To Disclose Information To My Parents?
Hello. I’m 21, about to go off to uni in August. Today, I went to my physician for a checkup because I got on a new antipsychotic and he wanted to see how I was doing with other stuff. I’ve been with him since I was ~11, so family knows him. My parents drove me to the appointment because we wanted to eat after my checkup and they were comfortable waiting outside. Well, fast forward a little, I had a private convo with my doctor which led me to admit that the antipsychotics were making me feel worse. It’s the end of the visit, he leaves for a moment, then comes back and says:
“Can your parents come in? Please!”
I said yes, they could be in the room now. Then, the very next sentence that came out of his mouth was “[my name] had s******* ideation thoughts last week” which completely threw me off guard because I didn’t expect him to disclose that. Was this misinterpretation on me? Was it implicitly implied that if I invited my parents in the private room, that I gave my MD full permission to discuss our conversation? There was no forewarning other than the sentence above, and I assumed it meant that they could sit in the room to discuss general next steps to wean off the antipsychotic because they knew that info beforehand. Anyway, I’m pretty upset at myself for revoking confidentiality but I also think that my physician should’ve made his intention explicit with a “by the way, can I disclose information to your parents?” Or a “by the way, when they come in, you are giving me authorization to discuss our conversation.”
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