Access to medical information in Spain

Abstract

The 21st century is marked by advances in medical science and the rise of the 'information society'. It is possible to identify and systematize the intersections between both of these areas and point out a matrix of access to medical information from a legal perspective. There are four connecting levels: (1) informed consent; (2) medical histories; (3) healthcare administrative information; and (4) information on the impact of environmental factors such as food and nutrition or contamination on health. This four-way scenario acquires new importance with the generalization of the information society and the advances in biomedicine. Globalization is challenged by the 'here and now' mentioned before. The large number of medical data and their new uses and consequences is a subject requiring an interdisciplinary approach that emerges from ethics as much as from science.