Legal Problems on the Protection of the Patients' Medical Information

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In order for a doctor to carry out proper diagnosis and medical treatment to a patient, it is necessary to get proper and accurate information from the patient. The doctors and the medical staffs are, therefore, owe the duty of confidentiality by medical ethics and the law including civil law and criminal law. However, present regulations are not enough for protection of such information. It is getting popular in a rapid pace, and genetic examination and therapy are put in practice in many fields of treatments. Genetic information influences not only the patient but also patient's relatives. If improper management of medical information will continue, it may cause serious ploblems to society. There should be some different approach toward the types of medical information according to the importance of information (genetic code information, serious illness such as infection of HIV, sexually transmitted disease, drug dependence, etc.). Although there may be some objection toward such the "genetic exceptionalism", which regards a genetic code far more important than the ordinary medical-examination information, the main idea of such objection argues the insufficiency of present medical examination information protection system, the important point is common among them. In this context, to divide the medical-examination information into the information that connect to a specific individual and to the medical data originated from the "humans" is one of the proper way to manage medical-examination information in the standpoint of the practice of the right of privacy (Gostin). Although there are not few subjects which should be examined, it is desirable to advance the argument in this direction.