THE LIMITS OF CONFIDENTIALITY
It is important to know that, if we share confidential information with someone, we can trust that person to maintain our confidence. We do not expect to hear our secret spread around the school.
When a person shares information with you, he/she is sharing a responsibility. Sometimes, you may be caught in a conflict between your promise and your responsibility.
However, there are limits to confidentiality. Sometimes, keeping a secret may be life-threatening. In this case, maintaining a life is more important than maintaining a confidence. For example, if someone tells you he has a gun, plans to kill himself, and swears you to secrecy, it is more important to get him help to save his life, than to keep the secret.
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