The protection of medical data - Recommendation No. R (97) 5 and explanatory memorandum (1998)

This recommendation provides that the protection of privacy should apply, by means of the approriate safeguards, to all medical data, whether processed by a doctor or by another person. It protects any information which might give an idea of a person's medical situation, such as for insurance purposes, for example data on his our her behaviour, sex life, life style, drug consumption or alcohol or tobacco abuse.