Medical secret in France

This article describes the legal tendencies concerning the Medical secret in France.

Articles

the L1110-4 article of the Public health code lays out: “ Any person taken of load by a professional, an establishment, a network of health or any other organization taking part in the prevention and the care is entitled to the respect of its private life and the secrecy of information relating to it. ” (the text envisages exemptions, the communication of information to close relations, and the possibility of information exchange between health professionals.)
the article R4127-4 CSP lays out: “ the professional secrecy instituted in the interest of the patients is binding on any doctor under the conditions established by the loi.
Le secret covers all that came to knowledge from the doctor in the exercise from his profession, i.e. not only what was entrusted to him, but also what he saw, heard or included/understood. ”
the article R4127-35 CSP lays out: “ a fatal forecast should be revealed only with caution, but the close relations must be prevented about it, except exception or if the patient beforehand prohibited this revelation or indicated the thirds to which it must be made. ”
article 226-13 of the Penal code lays out: “ the revelation of information in secret matter by a person who in is agent either by state or profession, or because of a function or a temporary mission, is punished one year of imprisonment and 15000 euros fine. ”
the L161-36-1 article has Code of the social security poses the same rules as Article L1110-4 CSP.

Medical secret and insurance companies

The medical secret is not shareable between the attending physician and the doctor of an insurance company, i.e. the attending physician must refuse to answer an insurance company which would require a medical diagnosis or information of him, even in the event of décès.
Consequently, the questionnaires of health required by the insurance companies, to evaluate a risk or a damage entitled to compensation, should not be filled by the attending physician but by the interested party himself. The interested party can ask the attending physician on the other hand copies of any useful medical document. In the event of death, attending physician can to deliver doctor's certificate indicating, without it being need to specify which was the disease in question, that death has a natural and foreign cause with the risks excluded by the insurance policy (Court of Appeal of Paris, 2/2/1962).

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