Mirosław Wróblewski, President of the Personal Data Protection Office, has asked the Minister of Health to initiate legislative work concerning the medical records of children who have been adopted. The aim is to adapt the rules for making changes to medical documents so that they more effectively protect a child’s personal data, right to privacy and information related to adoption.
The initiative of the President of the Personal Data Protection Office has been supported by Children’s Ombudswoman Monika Horna-Cieślak. The problem is of significant practical importance because the current regulations do not fully address situations in which, following full adoption, a child’s identifying data changes, including the assignment of a new PESEL number.
The intervention was prompted by a complaint from the mother of a child whose personal data had not been properly updated after the full adoption procedure. A medical entity continued to process the minor’s previous PESEL number, even though the child had already been assigned a new one. One medical certificate included both the previous and the current PESEL number, which led to the disclosure of information about the adoption.
According to the Personal Data Protection Office, the complainant informed the medical entity that the PESEL number had been completely changed. Despite this, the facility failed to take this update into account in a manner consistent with the principles resulting from the GDPR. The case showed that the current regulations do not provide clear tools for properly handling a child’s medical records after full adoption.
Medical records are legally protected under the Act on Patients’ Rights and the Patient Ombudsman. Detailed rules for processing data contained in such records are set out in the Minister of Health’s 2020 regulation. Under the current rules, an entry in medical records cannot simply be deleted. If it was entered incorrectly, it must be crossed out, with a note explaining the reason for the error, the date and identification of the person who made the annotation.
Although this mechanism is justified from the perspective of maintaining the integrity of medical records, it may prove insufficient in special cases such as the full adoption of a child. Keeping documents containing previous identifying data in circulation may lead to the disclosure of information that should remain protected. This applies especially when, after a new birth certificate has been issued, the child’s earlier data should no longer be disclosed.
The President of the Personal Data Protection Office points out that leaving the regulations in their current form may raise doubts both from the perspective of the GDPR and the Constitution of the Republic of Poland. This concerns, above all, the principle of data minimisation, according to which only information necessary for a specific purpose should be processed. Public authorities and entities performing public tasks should not obtain, collect or disclose citizens’ data to an extent broader than necessary in a democratic state governed by the rule of law.
The problem stems from the lack of specific provisions that would allow a child’s personal data to be changed in medical records after full adoption. Under the Family and Guardianship Code, full adoption creates between the child and the adoptive person the same legal relationship as that between parents and children. In practice, this means a change of the child’s surname and, in some cases, also a change of first name.
The court may also order that a new birth certificate be drawn up. In such a situation, the previous birth certificate is not disclosed, and the child is assigned a new PESEL number, which is entered in the civil status register. Previous identifying data is removed from current legal circulation, which should also be properly reflected in medical records.
The regulatory gap has also been noticed by the Children’s Ombudswoman. Monika Horna-Cieślak submitted a request to amend implementing regulations to the Minister of the Interior and Administration, the Minister of Justice, the Minister of National Defence and the Minister of Health. The proposed solution concerns the possibility of issuing medical records, at the request of a statutory representative or actual guardian, in the form of an extract containing the patient’s current personal data resulting from full adoption.
This is an important distinction because an extract — unlike a copy of medical records — may be incomplete. This means that it does not have to contain all the data included in the original records, including the patient’s original identifying data. Such a solution could reduce the risk of disclosing information about adoption to persons or institutions that should not have access to such data.
The Minister of National Defence and the Minister of the Interior have already expressed readiness to undertake legislative action. A similar initiative has been taken by the Minister of Justice. The significance of the matter is all the greater because medical entities should apply uniform rules for maintaining medical records, regardless of the organisational system in which they operate.
The draft amendment to the Minister of Health’s regulation is currently at the public consultation stage. The President of the Personal Data Protection Office expressed hope that the new regulations will be effectively introduced and will provide proper guarantees of access to up-to-date and correct personal data contained in medical records.
At the same time, the changes are intended to respect the child’s right to privacy and the basic principles of personal data processing. In practice, the aim is to strike a balance between the need to preserve continuity of medical records and the protection of particularly sensitive information concerning the child’s family and legal history.
Source: CEO.com.pl
