Medical record and privacy of patients

Son, Young Soo

Abstract

Making out medical record is one of the fundamental obligations of doctors in medical service. Primarily, the meaning of medical record is the logical basis to guarantee consistent medical practice by writing out the detailed process, which could make the doctors remember the items of what they have done for their patients. But, nowadays when the medical service is highly specialized and differentiated, it also means not only the important method of communication amongst specialized medical divisions but also legal basis for adjudicating the appropriateness of medical practice at the court. In the process of medical practice, it would be inevitable for personal information, health information and genetic information to be disclosed. On the one hand, doctors meet the legal and ethical obligation to protect the right of privacy of their patients, on the other hand, they bear the legal obligation to observe the rule for the patients' right to know and right of self determination for private information. So, therefore, even if doctors are to provide medical record by the legal provisions, they should inform the patient of the reality and maximum careful attention should be paid in order to minimize the extent of exposure of patients' personal information, health information and genetic information.