- In medical health care, secrecy is the basic rule. The regulations are formulated in the following way: secrecy remains in force 'if it is not clear that the information may be disclosed without the individual or someone closely related to him/her being harmed'. Thus, the presumption is that the information is confidential until the opposite has been proven.
- Information about 'an individual's state of health or other personal conditions' is confidential. Information relevant here is, for example, what illness the individual suffers from, whether a person is at a certain hospital and a certain department. Generally, the expression of personal conditions includes all data relating to the individual and includes everything from address and telephone number to information about the individual's (in)ability to work and his/her physical and psychological state.
- One purpose of the secrecy regulations is to protect the individual's personal
interests. This protection does not count for
the individual himself/herself. The principles nowadays ruling the health care services
are characterized by openness on the part of the personnel towards the patient.
The idea is that the patient shall have the opportunity to influence his/her situation
as a patient.
Thus, it may seem foreign that information should be concealed from the patient.
As a consequence of the right of the patient to take part in the information
about himself/herself, which for others is confidential information,
he/she can waive the secrecy of personal infonnation. This means that he/she can
give his/her consent to make certain data available to individuals or government
agencies. However, in cases where the person does not give his/her consent, the
wishes of this person are respected. This means that secrecy is the rule. The individual's own interests are given
the largest importance.
- However, even if the patient has given his/her consent for the release of some infonnation to the public, such action may cause hann to a close relative, since it is not unusual that the case sheets also contain some infonnation about relatives. In such cases, the relative must also give his/her consent.
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