Hassan, Astrid Sinarti 
ORCID: 0000-0002-1875-6223
(2023)
Patient Access to Medical Records: Should Malaysia Widen Patient Access?
PhD thesis, University of Liverpool.
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Abstract
The Malaysian approach to patient access to personal medical records has been ambiguous. Currently, no legislation explicitly allows the right of access to medical records for Malaysian patients. The closest legislation that approximates this right is the Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA) 2010 but this only governs the manner and right of access to the data user and data subject thereby advocating data protection in general terms, which raises the question of whether the term ‘data’ applies to medical records. Even then, it is restricted to the private healthcare sector which forms only a small part of the Malaysian healthcare ecosystem. Despite guidelines from the Malaysian Medical Council stating that patients have the right to access their medical information, this analysis reveals several contradictions and contravening government regulations that suggest otherwise. Patients thus have no authority to access medical records as this authority belongs to doctors and hospital providers. As it stands, patient access to medical records can be granted only through a court order. The objective of this thesis is to determine whether Malaysia should widen patient access to medical records and how this could be achieved. It examines three important aspects of widening patient access: the legal impediments to patient access and the current legislative and regulatory landscape in Malaysia; the ethical principles involved in widening patient access under which the doctor-patient relationship operates; and the changes needed to support access and how this would affect the doctor-patient relationship. It then develops a practical and coherent framework and recommendations based on legal and ethical perspectives to support the goal to improve patient access to their medical records. In doing so, the effect of the regulatory space on patient access to these records is also touched upon as it is an integral part if any changes are to happen. The thesis concludes by detailing a set of legal and ethical recommendations for Malaysian authorities which may help improve the current legal position in recognising patients’ rights to access their medical records. In doing so the recommendations are used to underpin a reform strategy aimed to shift the current paradigm of values and beliefs and make it a norm, initially by legislation but later by behavioural changes brought by the legislation.
| Item Type: | Thesis (PhD) |
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| Divisions: | Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences > School of Law and Social Justice |
| Depositing User: | Symplectic Admin |
| Date Deposited: | 15 Jan 2024 16:18 |
| Last Modified: | 15 Jan 2024 16:18 |
| DOI: | 10.17638/03176455 |
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| URI: | https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3176455 |
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