Breaching confidence? (Illustration)
Petition: Medical-leave permits breach doctor-patient confidentiality
Three civil, human rights groups petition High Court against Industry, Trade and Labor Ministry claiming ordinance requiring physicians to detail illness on permits is in violation of civil right to privacy
Need a note from your doctor? Better think twice: The Association for Civil Rights in Israel, the Israeli Workers Hotline and Physicians for Human Rights believe medical-leave authorizations used in Israel are in breach of doctor-patient confidentiality.
According to a Thursday report in Yedioth Ahronoth, the three groups petitioned the High Court against the Industry, Trade and Labor Ministry, citing that the medical-leave authorizations – the "note form the doctor" – commonly given out by physicians as proof of sick days, are in direct violation of doctor-patient confidentiality, thus of the right to privacy.
A doctor's note, said the petition, requires the physician to specify the nature of the illness, and when presented by an employee to his employer, may divulge medical details the former doesn’t necessarily want the latter to know.
Too much information? (Illustration: Liquied Library)
The Industry, Trade and Labor Ministry regulation requiring doctors to list details of ones medical condition on an everyday, garden variety, medical-leave authorization are in breach of every employee's basic right of privacy and doctor-patient confidentiality, said the petition.
"This regulation may carry a substantial health risk as well, since an employee – knowing the general nature of his illness may be made public to his employer – may choose to withhold vital symptoms from his physician," said the petition.
The petition further claimed that the ministry's ordinance, allowing employers to demand their workers undergo a physical examination by company-appointed doctors, is unreasonable and unnecessarily humiliating.
The regulations, said the petition, also discriminates against foreign workers, who in most cases are not insured by any of Israel's HMOs.
