Private address of the hospital doctor secret

BSG judgment: Clinic may not disclose address of a hired doctor due to complaint of a patient

01/22/2015

One patient, who claimed damages from a hospital operator and two doctors who had been hospitalized after hospitalization, sued the institution for the return of a doctor's home address. Previously, the clinic had refused to release the personal information. The Federal Court supports the approach of the hospital operator. In his judgment of 20 January 2015 (file reference: VI ZR 137/14), he clarified that, in principle, an employer is not entitled to disclose personal data collected under the employment relationship to third parties.

Private address of doctors must not be passed on from clinic to patient
The affected patient first attempted to deliver the complaint to both doctors via their clinic address. However, this was unsuccessful with a doctor. The background was a false name that the representative of the doctor had not given correctly. After the name correction, the claim could be successfully delivered. Nevertheless, the patient requested the handover of the physician's home address by the hospital operator. But he refused. The patient then went to court.

In the first instance, the information claim was rejected by the District Court of Weißwasser. In the appeal proceedings before the district court Görlitz the man was finally successful. The court condemned the hospital operator for publishing the doctor's private address because anonymity was not compatible with the nature of the doctor-patient relationship.

BSG emphasizes the protection of personal data of the doctor
As a result, the hospital operator went in revision before the Federal Court. This reversed the decision of the lower court and dismissed the action, as already done in the first instance by the district court white water. „It is true that the patient is also entitled to access to the medical records relating to him or her outside of a legal dispute with regard to the doctor and the hospital, insofar as they relate to records of objective physical findings and reports of treatment measures (medication, surgery, etc.). The hospital operator is also basically required to inform the patient of the name of the doctor treating him“, said the Federal Court in a statement. „However, the plaintiff did not need the physician's private address to conduct the civil proceedings because the application could be served under the clinic's name.“ In addition, the disclosure of information violates the data protection regulation of the § 32 para. 1 sentence 1 BDSG. „The scheme allows the employer to collect, process and use data for employment purposes. However, the employer is in principle not entitled to forward personal data that has been collected for employment purposes to third parties.“

In the specific case, the data were collected exclusively for the purposes necessary for the employment relationship. A transfer to third parties in this case would be considered „foreign use excluded“. The disclosure of private data requires the consent of the person concerned. (Ag)