Medical confidentiality from the clay tablet to the optic fiber

: Medical confidentiality is as old as medicine. Its protection has been variabe through ages. Hippocrate's Oath is considered to be the first reference to physician's duty to protect medical confidentiality. Arabic and Muslim medicine strengthened this obligation. Conflicts between community and patient's private interests led to derogations allowing medical record disclosing. Nowadays, protection of medical confidentiality is emphazised in charts and international codes related to patients rights.