Medical Secrecy and the Right of a Person Close to a Patient to Medical Information – Discussion Contribution

The purpose of this article is to attempt to present the institution of medical law, which is medical confidentiality, to define it, to highlight the most important features, and then to contrast it with the right to medical information of a relative of a patient, as a law competing with the need to maintain medical confidentiality.

The work begins with a description of the right to privacy as a source of medical confidentiality. Then, an attempt is made to determine the subjective and objective scope of confidentiality obligations imposed on entities providing medical services, while indicating the situations in which this obligation is lifted. Medical secrecy is presented as the obligation of medical personnel reflecting the patient’s right to information, with particular emphasis on the right to access medical records. The thesis was made that the patient is the only holder of information about him/her who has the right to voluntarily extend this right to other entities by authorization. In opposition, specific legal norms have been articulated for these considerations, which give the right to medical information on the patient’s state of health to those close to him/her, without the consent or knowledge of the person concerned. Particular attention is paid to the regulations regarding the application of medical confidentiality after the patient’s death.

In the course of the argument, doubts related to the correctness of introducing the discussed provisions into the Polish legal system are indicated.