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Right to Information about his or her Health| PORTUGAL
| GENERAL OVERVIEW | BIOMEDICINE CONVENTION | EU MEMBER STATES | TYPES OF PATIENT RIGHTS LEGISLATION |
| 1. The right to information about his or her health is not provided as a right independent from the right to informed consent in Portuguese law. 2. The right not to know is not as such recognized by the Portuguese health law. 3. The Criminal Code provides for the possibility to withhold information which, if the patient were to know about them, would endanger his life or would cause serious harm to his physical or mental health. This criminal law provision is also used in civil law. This therapeutic exception should be interpreted in a restrictive way, only in case of some cardiac or psychic illnesses that could be aggravated by disclosure. |