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The patient has a right not only to receive information orally about the state of her/his health, but also to read her/his own patient journal. The medical records at public hospitals are public documents, according to the decision of the Supreme Administrative Court in 1951. The right to read public documents is regulated in the Freedom of the Press Act, according to which a public document must, upon request, immediately or as soon as possible and free of charge, be provided. Thus, a patient journal, which is a public document, must as a rule be made available without delay to a person who wishes to see it. The Privacy Act contains some limitations on this general rule.
Concerning patient journals in private health care, the Patient Journal Act contains some special regulations. The statutory text gives the patient a right to read his/her patient journal or to obtain a copy of it. However, no one other than the patient herself/himself is entitled to access under this rule, which means that medical records in private health care are not public documents in the meaning of the Freedom of the Press Act. The person in charge of the medical records decides whether to grant the request or not. If she/he is of the opinion that the patient journal ought not to be supplied, he/she is obligated to report to the reasons for her/his decision to the National Social Welfare Board.
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