Sentenced prisoners are allowed to see their medical record

Federal Constitutional Court refers to self-determination of the prisoners
Karlsruhe (jur). Prisoners can demand insight into their complete medical record. This requires the dignity and self-determination of the prisoners, as the Federal Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe ruled in a decision published on Friday, January 27, 2017 (Ref .: 2 BvR 1541/15). Exceptions are only permissible on a case-by-case basis for serious reasons.

Thus, the Federal Constitutional Court a inmate of the Straubing Prison was right. A previous trial involved examining his blood for HIV in 2007. He had known nothing about it, let alone given his consent. When he learned this in 2013, the AIDS test was declared unlawful only after intervention by the Federal Constitutional Court (order of 20 May 2014, ref. 2 BvR 2512/13).

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The detainee now wanted to know what had happened to other examinations and blood tests. He therefore requested a comprehensive insight into his medical file.

The prison authorities refused. He could only receive a "file information". For this, however, he had to specify which blood samples he wanted information from. The prisoner's argument, without an overview of the file, that he was unable to give any concrete examinations, was not accepted by the asylum establishment. Also the district court Regenburg and the higher regional court (OLG) Nuremberg rejected the prisoners.

Before the Federal Constitutional Court, the inmate was again successful. He was "in his fundamental right to - even informational - self-determination and personal dignity" injured.

The medical record included particularly sensitive private data, emphasized the Karlsruhe judges for justification. The Federal Constitutional Court had therefore already decided in 1998 that doctors and hospitals must give their patients access to the medical record; the patient's right to self-determination would only have to resign if he was faced with important issues (decision of 16 September 1998, ref. 1 BvR 1130/98).

For prisoners this applies to an even greater extent. Because they could not freely choose their doctor or change in the absence of trust. The prison system was characterized by a "particularly high power gap", the fundamental rights of the prisoners were therefore particularly vulnerable. Without insight into the medical record, the prisoners could not
make sure that the file management complies with the fundamental rights requirements.

Correspondingly, the Federal Constitutional Court had already ruled on the punitive execution of offenders in psychiatric treatment, that "a particularly strong constitutionally protected interest" in a file inspection exists (Decision of 9 January 2006, Ref .: 2 BvR 443/02).

According to the new decision of 20 December 2016, now published in writing, prisoners are also entitled in principle to access their medical file in prison. Exceptions are only permissible if "if a file inspection conflicts with important issues," such as public security interests. In such cases, however, the authorities would have to examine whether it was sufficient to blacken or sort out parts of the file.

According to these stipulations, the Landgericht Regensburg is now to decide in a specific case on the release of the medical file. mwo