Prawo dostępu do dokumentacji medycznej po śmierci pacjenta
The right of access to medical records after a patient’s death

Summary/Abstract: In the article the evolution of principles of access to medical records after a patient’s death is discussed and current regulations thereon are evaluated. In life, the right to access to medical records in vested in: a patient, his/her statutory representative and a person authorized by the patient. After a patient’s death the right of access to medical records is vested in, i.a., the patient’s relatives, whose catalog had been specified by the lawmaker, unless in life the patient expressed his/her objection to disclosure of medical records. A patient’s objection is not definite, as a court may allow close persons’ access to a patient’s records despite the patient’s express objection. In the article the following are analyzed: a catalog of close persons, principles of expressing objection against disclosing patient’s medical records after his/her death, prerequisites for a conceivable revoke of a patient’s objection and manners of settling disputes between a patient’s close persons.

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