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In most cases, these fears are groundless. Health care

practitioners are very careful and serious about matters
of confidentiality; we take our patients' trust seriously.
However, you should be aware of some exceptions.

If you are describing behavior that involves sex with,

or abuse of, a minor, your health care practitioner must by
law report you to the proper authorities. The same rules
apply if you are engaging in abuse of a dependent adult
(someone who is mentally retarded, or frail and elderly),
or if you threaten to do harm to yourself or someone else.
Please be assured that you will be reported if you describe
any of these behaviors.

If, in your health care practitioner's opinion, your

activities represent an immediate danger to yourself or
others, he can have you involuntarily committed to a
mental institution for observation and evaluation. This is
very rare.

Health care practitioners are also required to report

certain infections, including sexually transmitted diseases,
to the Health Department. The purpose of this reporting
is to prevent the spread of these diseases, not to out you
to anyone; the people who work for health departments
also take your privacy very seriously. If they disclosed
confidential information they would have even more
difficulty getting cooperation from the people they were
interviewing, thus defeating their purpose.

With these few exceptions, we are not required to

report anything else. I have never heard of a patient being
reported to the police by a health care practitioner for
consensual behavior with another non-dependent adult.