Protection of Personal Data in Health Law and Patient Privacy

2020Murat Volkan DülgerArticle

Abstract

This work was written in Turkish. The summary on this page is a translation; the citation gives the original title in parentheses.

Personal data is a concept whose boundaries cannot be drawn precisely. In international and national instruments, “any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person” is accepted as personal data. In other words, every kind of information we can think of that serves to identify a person is that person’s personal data. The place a human being takes in the universe as a human being, and his or her position in society, turn certain values attached to the person into personal data. In addition, developments in science and technology, particularly over the last century, and their reflection on society and on the components that make up social life have turned a great deal of information into personal data.

While many of these data make up the category of personal data, some have been recognised as “special categories” of personal data. The reason why certain data are recognised as special categories of personal data, and are thereby placed under more effective protection, is that these data are more closely connected with the person’s fundamental rights and freedoms. This distinction was made out of concern that, if such data were misused, the harm and hardship that could be caused to the data subject would be greater.