The Relationship between Patient's Privacy and Dignity

Noting the patients'' dignity has expanded more during last decades and has appropriated many debates. Maintaining the patients'' privacy is a most important element in respecting their dignity. Although respecting the humans'' dignity is among the fundamental objectives of the system providing healthcare and medical services, but the studies show that the patients'' privacy and therefore their dignity are not well protected. In addition, the medical and nursing staffs are not well aware of the importance of the patients'' privacy and dignity and they have different understandings of these concepts too. Therefore, it is necessary to provide solutions to promote and protect the dignity in the clinical settings. This study discusses different aspects of the relationship between patients'' privacy and their dignity and deals with the findings of some studies performed in this respect.