Security.co.uk, 4 March 2015: 'Senate warned about new EHR law'

"Minister Schippers' new EHR law lets patients give consent whose consequences they cannot foresee, in violation of the right to privacy and medical confidentiality. The campaign warns of this Specific Consent in a letter to the Senate.

Specific Consent is an initiative by a group of concerned citizens, Privacy First and the Civil Rights Protection Foundation. According to the initiative, the bill "Client rights in electronic data processing" allows access to medical data with a single consent from any healthcare provider with whom the patient has had contact.

Indeed, if the patient gives consent at one healthcare provider, then data at other healthcare providers can also be accessed on this basis. The minister calls this "specified consent" in her proposal, but the article of law in question actually leaves enough room for carte blanche. "A consent with such a scope is unthinkable from the point of view of both the patient's right to privacy and the healthcare provider's professional secrecy," according to Specific Consent.

Impact

The initiative warns that a patient who consents to data sharing with one healthcare provider does not know what information can then also be accessed from the records of other healthcare providers, from pharmacists and GPs to specialist care providers and hospitals. "He is thus not in a position to make an informed decision about data disclosure whose consequences he can oversee."

According to Specific Consent, when sharing medical personal data, it must be clear to the patient in advance what data is involved and who can access it for what purpose. Minister Schippers' new law would not meet these requirements. The D66 faction of the Senate has since asked the government to respond to Specific Consent's letter."

Source: https://www.security.nl/posting/420746/Eerste+Kamer+gewaarschuwd+voor+nieuwe+EPD-wet, 4 March 2015.