Why is confidentiality so important in a medical office? give an example of what you could do to maintain confidentiality. physicians have always had a duty to keep their patients' confidences. [ in essence, the physician's duty to maintain confidentiality means that a physician may not disclose any medical information revealed by a patient or discovered by a physician in connection with the treatment of a patient. in general, ama's code of medical ethics states that the information disclosed to a physician during