Access to Patient’s Medical Records in the Light of the Case Law of Administrative Courts

Abstract

This study contains an analysis of legal regulations on the access to patient’s medical records and the compliance with these regulations in Poland. Based on the extensive case-law of the administrative courts, the following were examined, i.a., the forms of making medical records available, with particular respect to the making available of the original of these records, the possibility of charging fees for the provision of medical records, the form of the request for access to medical records and the time within which the provider of health services is required to make that documentation available. The list of entities authorised to get access to patient’s medical records has been discussed and attention has been drawn to problems in gaining access to the medical records of a deceased patient.