Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: The article examines the civil law regime for protecting the right to medical confidentiality as a crucial element in ensuring the right to privacy amid the rapid advancement of digital technologies in the healthcare sector. Medical confidentiality encompasses a wide range of sensitive information, including a patient's health status, diagnostic results, treatments, medical procedures performed, the fact of seeking medical assistance, and other information disclosed to medical personnel in the course of their professional duties.The study focuses on the legislative framework governing medical secrecy in Ukraine, in particular the provisions of the Civil Code of Ukraine, the Law of Ukraine ’’Fundamentals of the Legislation on Health Care,’’ the Law of Ukraine ’’On Personal Data Protection,’’as well as several other normative acts that regulate medical confidentiality. Special attention is given to the practical implementation of the right to medical confidentiality in the context of digitalization of healthcare services, the development of the electronic healthcare system, the introduction of telemedicine, and the operation of digital medical platforms such as Helsi.me.The article analyzes the challenges related to unauthorized access by third parties to sensitive medical information, abuse of official position, and the problems caused by insufficient digital literacy and poor legal awareness among both healthcare workers and patients. It also addresses the issue of legal liability for the disclosure of medical secrecy under civil, administrative, and criminal law.A comparative legal analysis with the legislation of the European Union is also conducted, particularly focusing on the provisions of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Dignity of the Human Being with regard to the Application of Biology and Medicine (Oviedo Convention). The article highlights inconsistencies and gaps in national legislation compared to international standards. The author proposes specific directions for improving legal regulation, including the establishment of a special legal regime for medical confidentiality within the Civil Code of Ukraine.
Author: Bohdan Malii
Institution: Sumy State University
Language: English
Subfield: Law
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W4411249558