The Medical Consultation

Every patient has the right to be informed by the doctor. The medical consultation includes informing the patient about the type, extent and severity of his / her illness, diagnostics and possible therapeutic measures within the scope of therapeutic treatment. Medical confidentiality is one of the most central patient rights of the Austrian health care system and is the basis for the doctor-patient relationship of trust. What you tell your doctor in a therapeutic conversation remains a secret.

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Content of the medical consultation

Every patient has the right to be informed by the doctor. About:

your own state of health,
possible types of diagnosis and treatment,
the risks and consequences of these types of diagnosis and treatment, and
expected costs.

All of this should be done in a way that is appropriate to the circumstances and corresponds to the personality and education of the patient. The patient can voluntarily dispense with the information. In addition, patients have the right to know how they can participate in the treatment themselves and how they can lead their lives to support the therapy.

The information can then be omitted or the time shortened if the treatment is urgently necessary for the patient's well-being, i.e. if valuable time would pass through the informational discussion. Good preparation for the doctor's consultation and specific questions can increase the benefit of the conversation.

What the patient charter represents for the patient, is for the doctor above all the Doctors Act: According to this, the doctor is obliged to keep records of the consultations or treatments on the one hand, and those to be advised or to on the other to provide all information to the treating person or person authorized to represent them legally”.

Medical confidentiality

In the Doctors 'Act it says: "The doctor and his assistants are obliged to maintain secrecy about all secrets entrusted to them or that have become known to them in the exercise of their profession." The medical confidentiality is in the Doctors' Act (Section 54) under the title "Confidentiality, notification and reporting." "held.

However, there is no medical confidentiality obligation if:

the doctor must submit a report in accordance with legal regulations (e.g. in the case of notifiable diseases such as tuberculosis),
Social insurance carriers, hospitals or other cost carriers need data in order to be able to carry out their tasks (e.g. billing) - in this case the data may only be output to the extent that is necessary for the work of the named carriers,
You have released your doctor from confidentiality,
it is absolutely necessary to protect higher-value interests of public health care or the administration of justice.

You can find detailed information on the duty of confidentiality under Section 54 of the Medical Act.