Professional Secrecy In South Africa: A Symposium By G.C. Oosthuizen, H.A. Shapiro, S.A. Strauss
Professional Secrecy In South Africa: A Symposium By G.C. Oosthuizen, H.A. Shapiro, S.A. Strauss (Collectible First Edition Copy)
A Landmark Legal, Medical, and Clerical Dialogue on the Ethical Boundaries of Confidentiality in a Changing Society
A Landmark Legal, Medical, and Clerical Dialogue on the Ethical Boundaries of Confidentiality in a Changing Society
Bibliographic Specifications
- Title: Professional Secrecy In South Africa: A Symposium
- Editors: G.C. Oosthuizen, H.A. Shapiro, S.A. Strauss
- Publisher: Oxford University Press, Cape Town / New York
- Publication Date: 1983
- ISBN-10: 0195703200
- ISBN-13: 9780195703207
- Edition Details: First Edition, First Printing (Collectible Academic Release)
- Binding: Original publisher's premium hardcover cloth boards, complete with the original illustrated dust jacket, now preserved inside a clear Cellophane archival cover.
- Physical Format: Octavo (8vo), 278 pages. Contains full transcripts, comparative international case reviews, panel debates, and formalized ethical resolutions from the foundational 1983 symposium.
- Language: English
Official Condition Report
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The Book: Very Good (VG)
- Exterior / Boards: The original publisher's cloth casing remains structurally robust, exceptionally true, and square-cornered. The spine text is sharp and completely undamaged at both head and tail bands.
- Interior: The text block is robust, tight, and highly sound. Internal pages are completely clean, crisp, and intact, showing uniform, age-related vintage tanning/browning across the paper leaf margins, entirely typical of early 1980s South African Oxford University Press productions. Free from user highlighting, ink stamps, or owner names.
- Preservation: Meticulously looked after, carefully maintained, and now fully stabilized in a premium Cellophane sleeve to shield the binding from future edge wear.
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The Dust Jacket: Very Good Minus (VG-)
- Condition: Present, complete, and unclipped. Displays limited, minor signs of shelf wear, light edge rubbing, and superficial wrinkling along the spine tips and margins. Beautifully consolidated, bright, and seamlessly showcased beneath the protective archival Cellophane wrap.
Synopsis & Legal-Ethical Value
Published in 1983 by Oxford University Press, Professional Secrecy In South Africa documents a landmark cross-disciplinary conflict over the legal boundaries of confidentiality. Organized by the Department of Science of Religion at the University of Durban-Westville in cooperation with the Durban and District Council of Churches in Natal, this symposium tackled deeply troubling questions that remain highly relevant today.
The text brings together leading minds to address vital moral dilemmas: Should a minister of religion inform police that a murderer has confessed during pastoral care? Why do attorneys enjoy significantly wider legal protections under attorney-client privilege than doctors, journalists, or clergy? Can the privacy of sensitive medical and pharmaceutical records be protected in an emerging computer age? Confronting the authoritarian climate of 1980s South Africa, this rare academic reference work provides an invaluable historical look at the intersection of law, medicine, theology, and civil liberties.
Author Profile: G.C. Oosthuizen, H.A. Shapiro, S.A. Strauss
This landmark text was curated by three of South Africa's most prominent 20th-century academics and legal experts:
- Professor Gerhardus Cornelis Oosthuizen was a highly distinguished theologian, religious scholar, and head of the Department of Science of Religion at the University of Durban-Westville, widely celebrated for his extensive work on African Independent Churches and human rights.
- Dr. Hillel Abbe Shapiro was a world-renowned forensic pathologist, medical ethicist, and longtime editor of the Journal of Forensic Medicine, whose pioneering work laid the foundations for modern medical jurisprudence in Southern Africa.
- Professor Sybrand Albertus Strauss was an internationally acclaimed legal scholar, author of the definitive Doctor, Patient and the Law, and long-serving Professor of Public Law at the University of South Africa (UNISA), widely considered the father of South African medical law.
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