Research On Obligation Of Maintaining Confidentiality In Medical Institutions

As the increase of the legal consciousness, people not only concern how to be cured, butalso care for the matter how their rights will be protected when they are in medical treatment.Among all the rights, they pay more attention to protecting the right of privacy. In order toprotect patients’ right of privacy, all the countries usually define the obligation of maintainingconfidentiality in medical institutions as a legal obligation. Our country also raises theobligation of maintaining confidentiality in medical institutions to a legal obligation by thelegal regulations. Meanwhile, we have to notice the case of conflict between the right ofprivacy and other legal rights overseas. If we criticize the responsibility of maintainingconfidentiality too severely, some social problems may be caused. However, there areproblem that the obligation of maintaining confidentiality in the constitutive requirements andwhat is the information of maintaining confidentiality, so that we can’t resolve the disputesbetween medical institutions and patients.This thesis has three parts. The first part analyzes the phenomenon of revealing personalinformation by medical institutions and current situation of legislation. In this part, somecases that medical institutions reveal patients’ personal information in medical practice will belisted to analyze their legal character, which means violation of the obligation of maintainingconfidentiality, and to demonstrate the necessity defining medical institutions to undertake theobligation of maintaining confidentiality, and to investigate the definition to the obligation ofmaintaining confidentiality in medical institutions by current law and analyze the problem ofcurrent definition. One of the problems is that constitutive requirements and liabilityprovisions are not clear. The other one is that the exceptions of medical institutions against theobligation of maintaining confidentiality are not exhaustive.The second part states the constitutive requirements and responsibility against theobligation of maintaining confidentiality in medical institutions. This part is the theory of thewhole thesis, which analyzes the constitutive requirements that medical institutions violateobligation of maintaining confidentiality and liabilities for infringement and investigate toundertake liabilities for infringement. First of all, under the circumstance of current law, wecan find out the civil liability which violates the obligation of maintaining confidentiality inmedical institutions according to tort law and contract law. However, to protect the rights of patients, the author believes that liabilities for infringement takes more advantages to relievethe rights of patients so that the point of the whole thesis focuses on the investigation onliabilities for infringement against the obligation of maintaining confidentiality. Afterwards,through the general theoretical introduction of the constitutive requirements on liabilities forinfringement, leads the specific range of investigation on the objects violated the obligation ofmaintaining confidentiality in medical institutions. It include: personal information, medicalinformation, treatment process and patients’ require. At last, define that it should be medicalinstitution which is the main part to undertake the responsibility against the obligation ofmaintaining confidentiality in medical institutions.The third part is exceptions of medical institutions against the obligation of maintainingconfidentiality. This part states exceptions of medical institutions against the obligation ofmaintaining confidentiality, which combines with legislation and legal precedent abroad todiscuss that our country should define exceptions of medical institutions against the obligationof maintaining confidentiality and to propose that we should regard the following revealingpatients information by medical institutions as exceptions of medical institutions against theobligation of maintaining confidentiality: patients consent, public interest, to protect patientspersonal benefits and force majeure.