Case 33-3161

The applicant filed a complaint against the administration of the city child clinic in the city of Mirniy. The clinic refused to give the applicant the original medical history documents for her minor daughter.  The Constitution of the Russian Federation and related legislation obligated institutions to provide relevant health care information upon a citizen’s request. The issue here was whether the clinic’s giving the applicant only a copy of the requested medical records, but not the originals, violated her constitutional right.

The applicant alleged that the actions of the health care institution were inconsistent with the federal legislation, since such actions violated her constitutional right to receive relevant information. The clinic argued that its refusal to give the medical history was well-grounded, since there was no requirement that the applicant receive original copies.

The Mirniy city court found for the clinic and the applicant appealed.

Referring to the a prior Supreme Court finding and the relevant legislation, the Court found that there was no requirement in the relevant provisions that the original medical documents be provided upon request and that provision of copies of such document satisfied the constitutional requirement. The Court therefore upheld the lower court’s finding and dismissed the applicant’s complaint.

“According to Article 31 of the Fundamentals of the legislation of the Russian Federation on health care of citizens, a citizen has the right to get directly acquainted with medical documents which include information about their health condition and to get advice on it from other professionals. On the request of a citizen they can receive copies of medical documents, which includes information on their health condition if rights of third parties are affected by it.” Page 2, paragraph 4.

“Согласно ст. 31 Основ законодательства Российской Федерации об охране здоровья граждан, гражданин имеет право непосредственно знакомиться с медицинской документацией, отражающей состояние его здоровья, и получать консультации по ней у других специалистов. По требованию гражданина ему предоставляются копии медицинских документов, отражающих состояние его здоровья, если в них не затрагиваются интересы третьей стороны.”

“Under such circumstances taking into account mentioned explanation given in the Judgment of the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the RF, taking into account requirements of provisions of the federal law, the court reasonably concluded that the administration of the clinic did not violate the rights of citizen related to receipt of needed information including receipt of medical book. This is because the above mentioned provisions of the federal legislation do not provide issuance of medical documents for citizens in original, and a citizen has the right to receive information about its content in the form of copies of such documents.” Page 2, paragraph 5

“При таких обстоятельствах, учитывая указанное разъяснение, данное в Постановлении Пленума Верховного Суда РФ, суд, учитывая требования норм федерального закона, обоснованно пришел к выводу о том, что администрация поликлиники не нарушила прав гражданина, касающихся предоставления ему необходимой информации, в т.ч. и выдачи медицинской книжки, поскольку вышеизложенными положениями федерального законодательства не предусмотрена выдача гражданам медицинских документов в их подлинниках, а гражданин вправе иметь информацию о их содержании в копии данных документов.”