It is very common for professionals to hire secretaries to type up their reports and other paperwork. Doctors, for example, employ secretaries to type medical documents which are then passed on to the patient’s family doctor, laboratory, and so on. Very often, this paperwork contains private, confidential information regarding the patient. One might therefore wonder whether it is permissible for a physician to have his secretary type these documents, as he in effect shares with her confidential information which the patient clearly does not wish to be shared with other people. Similarly, documents prepared in attorneys’ offices generally contain confidential or even disparaging information about the client, and the secretary gains access to this information when she is asked to prepare the documents. Sharing private information about somebody against his or her will violates the Torah prohibition of Rechilut (gossip), or, in some cases, Lashon Ha-ra (negative speech about other people). Perhaps, then, we should forbid professionals such as doctors and lawyers from having secretaries type confidential information about their patients/clients.
Rav Eliezer Waldenberg (1915-2006), in his work Sitz Eliezer, ruled that one may, in fact, give over confidential information to one’s secretary for the purpose of documentation. He explains that secretaries are employed because professionals cannot properly do their job without the backing and assistance provided by their secretaries. A doctor, for example, would be unable to devote time and attention to his patients if he was also responsible for the necessary secretarial work. Since it is well-known that the doctor depends upon secretarial help, the patient tacitly grants approval to having his information shared with the office staff. Once the patient seeks the medical care of a physician, he understands that the information will be documented by the office staff, and the physician therefore may certainly have his secretary type the relevant information. Of course, this applies to attorneys and other professionals, as well. Once a client solicits the services of an attorney, he understands that the office staff will be privy to his personal information, and implicitly gives his approval to this process.
It goes without saying that the secretary may not share the confidential information with anyone. The fact that the patient or client grants permission for the information to be shared with the secretary does not grant the secretary license to pass the information on to others. She may be shown the information as part of the necessary office work, but she does not have the right to share confidential information with anybody else.
Summary: It is permissible for a professional such as a doctor or lawyer to employ a secretarial staff to help with paperwork, despite the fact that the staff will be shown confidential information about the patient or client. Clearly, however, the staff may not share this information with anybody else.
