In China, the law protects a patient’s right to privacy. According to the Law of Torts (to be effective this July 1), a medical institution should be responsible to protect a patient’s privacy. A medical institution should be liable for any damages caused by any disclosure of a patient’s private information or the patient’s medical record without the patient’s consent. The Law of Licensed Doctor similarly states that a doctor, when in practice, should protect and respect a patient and should protect the patient’s privacy.
Generally speaking, any of the patient’s personal information disclosed to the medical institution should be considered as private information and subject to protection. Therefore, without a patient consent, a doctor should not discuss the medical results where a third party is presented, unless a third party is closely related to the patient and that the medical results would have an impact on such a party as well.
Sometimes, consent may be reasonably deemed to be given if the patient fails to prevent the doctor from disclosing if the patient has an opportunity to do so. If the patient has protested but the doctor continues to disclose the private information, then the doctor is likely liable.
Other than bringing an action under torts, you may check the hospital’s agreement with you relating to accepting patients or the medical institute’s internal guidance, and see if there is any contractual breach and whether you can seek money back. A patient may assert under contract law that the services provided to him/her is not what being agreed to according to the agreement or there is material violation to the agreement and therefore may seek to cancel the agreement and claim for return of the payment. |
