1. Patients have the right to the protection of their privacy in any medical service, particularly in respect of the information about their health. There shall be no interference with regard to the exercise of this right unless it is provided by law and is necessary for the protection of public health or for the rights and liberties of others.
2. Patients have the right to the protection of their intimacy. No other persons than those whose presence is required for the delivery of medical services shall be allowed to assist in the provision of care, the examinations and treatment, without the patient’s consent.
3. Article 19 of the patient rights act introduced significant changes to Article 95 of the law of 25 June 1992 on insurance contracts. The draft bill even went so far as to suggest rescinding the article’s first paragraph which provided that the physician chosen by the beneficiary would, at the beneficiary’s request, provide the medical declarations necessary for closing or executing the insurance contract. In the explanatory report, this was justified by referring to the provision’s patient-unfriendly character. As far as the content and time limitations of the information were concerned, it placed an unlimited requirement on the physician. The Commission for the protection of privacy agreed with this line of reasoning. The Council of State, on the other hand, suggested ‘investigating if there is not some alternative to simply scrapping the clause in question’. It occurred to the Council that the interests of patients are not always served by merely rescinding the provision. In order to deal with this, the government introduced an amendment to Article 95. The first, second and fifth paragraphs are new, while the third and fourth remained unaltered. Under the provisions of the first paragraph, the physician chosen by the beneficiary is no longer required to provide the requested medical declarations, he is permitted to do so. In addition, these declarations must restrict themselves to a description of the current state of health. What the patient’s state of health was in the past (e.g. an addiction that has since been cured) may not be mentioned. The second paragraph provides that the declarations may only be given to the insurance company’s advisory physician. This immediately implies that every insurance company will need to have such a physician at its disposal. This advisory physician may not give the insurance company any information which is not relevant to the risk for which the declarations are made, or which concerns anyone other than the beneficiary. Under the provisions of the fifth paragraph, when there is no longer any risk to the insurance company, the advisory physician returns the declarations to the beneficiary at his or her request, or to the beneficiary’s next of kin in the event of death.

Information on the Processing of Personal Medical Data is here available.

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