Book excerpt: This book, for the first time, offers a comparative study of the origins of professional and public debates on medical confidentiality in the US, Britain, and Germany during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In this period traditional medical secrecy began to be seriously contested by demands for disclosure in the name of public health and the law. Andreas-Holger Maehle examines three representative debates: Do physicians and surgeons have a privilege to refuse to give evidence in court about confidential patient details? Can doctors breach patient confidence in order to prevent the spread of disease? And is there a medical duty to report illegal procedures to the authorities? The comparative approach reveals significant differences and similarities among the three countries concerned, and the book s historical perspective illuminates the fundamental ethical issues at stake that continue to give rise to public debate."