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Australia Leading Case nature of fiduciary relationshipprofessional negligence

Breen v Williams

(1996) 186 CLR 71
JurisdictionAustralia
CourtHigh Court of Australia
Year1996
StatusBinding authority

Summary

The doctor-patient relationship is not fiduciary in a proprietary sense and patients have no general common law right of access to their medical records.

Key Principle

The HCA rejected a fiduciary-based claim by a patient to access medical records; the doctor-patient relationship is not fiduciary in a proprietary sense, and there is no general common law right of access to medical records.

Area of Law

tort

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