Personal data protection and the handling of medical records
Individual rights regarding registration and access to information in the medical register
A right to restrict access to a medical record
The person concerned or his/her representative may decide that, when he/she receives treatment, the medical records for that treatment will not be available to anyone other than the registrant and the medical records administrator and, where applicable, other particular healthcare professionals.
However, other healthcare professionals may have access to the medical records if they consider it necessary for treatment and must inform the person concerned about it and that refusal to allow necessary access to the medical records may, where appropriate, be equivalent to the rejection of treatment, according to the Patient Rights Act.
A right to delete or correct information from a medical record
In general, information in medical records may not be deleted. The person concerned or his/her representative may have a comment made in the medical record if he/she considers that the information therein is incorrect or misleading.
If it is shown that information in the medical record is clearly incorrect or misleading, it is permitted with the approval of the depositary to correct it in the medical record of the person concerned, taking care that the information necessary for legal disputes is not lost.
If the administrator refuses to correct medical records information that the person concerned considers manifestly incorrect or misleading, the person concerned can appeal that refusal to the Directorate of Health.
It is prohibited to delete information from the medical file without the approval of the Directorate of Health.
