On The Protection Of Patient Privacy

Health care institutions are where privacies "explode" due to the attributes of their engagements. As a result, disputes related to the infringements of privacies have accounted for considerable share comparing with their counterparts. Hence, the newly released Tort Liability Law provides separate provisions on Liability for Medical Malpractice, where tort liability for the tort of a Patient's Privacy is manifested.The Patient's Privacy (Right) is a legal terminology of both universality and uniqueness. It's universal in terms of its principal, who shall be any randomly designated individual (who has established medical relationship with the health care institution); it's unique in terms of the subjects of the duty, who are specified health care institutions, and of the content of the right, which are exposed only in medical related activities, and of the subjective psychology of the principal, who volunteers to renounce some of his/her privacies for the sake of coordinating with the medical engagement. Like all other legal Rights, it is subject to some limitation, i. e. for the public interest, for the prevention of a crime, etc. in its case.The constructive elements of an infringement of the Patient's Privacy are:1. malpractice, including activities such as the disclosure or use of the Patient's privacy without authorization, and nonfeasance, which refers to the leakage of the Privacy due to inappropriate storage of the Patient's medical documents; 2. the damage fact, exemplified by the spiritual agony caused hereto; 3. the causality between the malpractice and the damage fact; and 4. the negligence from the heal care institution part.The plaintiff shall cite either the breach of contract or tort liability to seek remedy for his damage. Where it is tort liability, the newly issued Tort Liability Law has made slight modifications, distinguished the acts of tort - where the medical institutions disclose the privacy information without permission for the patient, the doctrine of presumption shall be used to identify the liability; where the privacy information is revealed from the medical situation, the doctrine of fault shall be used.The cases reveal some problems in the protection of the Patient's Privacy. One is that the medical institution party shall elevate its awareness of protection, which is not only an obligation of legality, but also of morality as is stipulated in the WMA Declaration of Lisbon on the Rights of the Patient. Two is that appropriate institutions, such as that to manage the medical document, shall be introduced. Three is that further legislation is needed. Thanks to the enforcement of the Tort Liability Law, the law protecting Patient's Privacy is outlined. However, details hereto are dispersed in various laws and regulations, such as the Law on Medical Practitioners, Law on the Prevention and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, etc., whose content are far from being sufficient. Hence, a congregated law like the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act in the US is welcomed.