Cuando la violación del secreto médico es impuesta por la ley. Otro efecto secundario de la Ley N° 20.584

Abstract

A law of rights and duties of patients was recently enacted in Chile (Law N° 20.584). When someone dies, the law allows his inheritors to have access to part or the totality of the medical record. Therefore, they may become acquainted of information that the patient gave in confidence to his physician, protected by “the medical confidentiality”. The original bill included the possibility that a doctor could deny information that could cause harm to the former holder of the clinical record, but this precaution was banned by congressmen, seriously damaging the institution of “medical confidentiality”, a cornerstone of the medical- patient relationship since the beginning of medicine.