35 published accounts of people refused their own health records from 29 countries and territories
Access refused, as we file it: the person asked for their record, or the log of who viewed it, and was refused or ignored.
Published October 2024 to October 2026, found in sources in 16 languages: 35 of all 442 cases. By region, 1 in Africa, 15 in the Americas, 3 in Asia, 15 in Europe and 1 in the Middle East. Of these, a regulator or court decided 20, the organization involved admitted 1 and 14 are allegations not decided. The sources: 13 decisions by regulators and ombudsmen, 5 court judgments and 17 reports by edited news outlets. 3 decisions are known to us from a news report of it. The list last changed on October 7, 2026.
Each case is filed under one kind of problem when it is written, by the rule above; the cases here are the ones filed under it. These cases are not a sample: they show what is published and findable, not how common refusals are.
Each case's id links its line on Real cases, the one address to cite. Every case, every kind of problem, by country: Real cases.
By month and region
all cases that monthcases filed as access refuseda month not yet overevery panel on the same scale, 0 to 15 cases a month
Africa47 cases, 25 countries and territoriesAmericas89 cases, 29 countries and territoriesAsia76 cases, 25 countries and territoriesEurope187 cases, 47 countries and territoriesMiddle East25 cases, 13 countries and territoriesOceania18 cases, 6 countries and territories
Each bar counts the cases whose source was published that month, October 2024 to October 2026, by region. Pick a kind of problem to see its share of each bar. Counts show what was published and what our searches found, not how often problems happen. October 2026 runs only to October 3, 2026, the newest source date, so its bars are drawn as outlines. Every case as a spreadsheet (CSV).
See the numbers
Cases filed as access refused, by month of the source and by region
Month
Africa
Americas
Asia
Europe
Middle East
Oceania
All
October 2024
0
1
0
0
0
0
1
November 2024
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
December 2024
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
January 2025
0
1
0
0
0
0
1
February 2025
0
1
0
5
0
0
6
March 2025
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
April 2025
0
1
0
0
0
0
1
May 2025
0
1
0
0
0
0
1
June 2025
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
July 2025
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
August 2025
0
1
0
0
0
0
1
September 2025
0
0
0
1
0
0
1
October 2025
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
November 2025
0
1
0
1
0
0
2
December 2025
1
0
1
1
0
0
3
January 2026
0
1
0
1
0
0
2
February 2026
0
1
0
0
0
0
1
March 2026
0
1
0
0
0
0
1
April 2026
0
1
1
1
0
0
3
May 2026
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
June 2026
0
1
0
1
0
0
2
July 2026
0
2
0
2
0
0
4
August 2026
0
1
0
1
1
0
3
September 2026
0
0
1
0
0
0
1
October 2026 (so far)
0
0
0
1
0
0
1
All
1
15
3
15
1
0
35
Cases filed as access refused, by how settled they are and by region
How settled
Africa
Americas
Asia
Europe
Middle East
Oceania
All
A regulator or court decided
0
6
2
12
0
0
20
The organization admitted the problem
0
1
0
0
0
0
1
Alleged, not decided
1
8
1
3
1
0
14
All
1
15
3
15
1
0
35
Cases filed as access refused, by kind of source and by region
Kind of source
Africa
Americas
Asia
Europe
Middle East
Oceania
All
Regulator and ombudsman decisions
0
3
0
10
0
0
13
Court judgments
0
2
0
3
0
0
5
News reports
1
10
3
2
1
0
17
All
1
15
3
15
1
0
35
The cases, newest first
· Уповноважений Верховної Ради України з прав людини (Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights)
A man asked a health facility for copies of medical records about his mother's death and says he received only some. After the human rights ombudsman wrote to the facility, it sent the requested documents electronically.
A woman asked a regional public hospital in Banten for copies of her medical records through her lawyer. The lawyer says only incomplete copies came, a legal notice went unanswered, and a Health Ministry complaint would follow.
A member of parliament told the health minister that patients at some public hospitals leave with only a final summary, not detailed reports and test results, and some are stopped from photographing their own records.
A federal appeals court ruled that when a person says a health institution is denying access to their clinical record, judges may grant immediate protection, treating record access as part of the right to health.
A patient asked a private clinic for all the records it held on them and got no reply. After a complaint, inspectors visited, the clinic produced the file and undertook to supply it, and the regulator ordered fixes.
Lawyers for a person in state detention told the High Court that prison officials decided not to disclose the medical records compiled during the detention, as part of a wider legal challenge.
A patient's lawyer asked for certified copies of the full record with a signed special power of attorney. The hospital insisted on a copy of the patient's ID card and ignored the commission; it ruled the demand unjustified.
A family asked the health authority for an adult relative's medical record. It refused, citing confidentiality and the data law, although the patient was not in a position to sign the authorisation it required.
An employee asked their employer's medical service twice for their full record and got no answer; copies came only after a complaint. The regulator upheld it, citing the right to know who holds the data.
The government announced a website listing patients treated in eleven hospitals after the earthquakes. The outlet found its links and phone numbers led nowhere, and the list could only be searched by exact name or ID number.
A widow was refused access to her late husband's health record by a health institution, and the Directorate of Health upheld the refusal. The Parliamentary Ombudsman found no grounds to object, noting the request was not supported by documents.
A clinic refused to give a deceased patient's record to some of his children, saying all heirs had to ask together. The appeals court called the refusal illegal and arbitrary and ordered a full copy delivered within three working days.
Two linked hospitals did not give a patient's family the complete medical records despite repeated requests. A district consumer commission ordered the full records, including consent forms and procedure details, within 45 days, with interest if late.
Several patients complained that a private hospital never sent copies of their records. The regulator found imaging files had been irretrievably lost, no backups existed, the loss was never reported, and fined the hospital 190,000 euros.
A patient in Ontario asked their doctor for access to their health information and got no reply within the legal time limit. The commissioner treated the silence as a refusal and ordered the doctor to respond.
A patient in British Columbia asked for her own hospital records. The health authority released them but blacked out three sentences. The commissioner found no good reason to withhold them and ordered them disclosed.
An adult prisoner told the outlet that after a hospital stay he was given no medicines in prison and could not learn what the specialist had prescribed, because he had never been given access to his medical record.
A patient asked a therapy centre for all data held about them. The centre left out notes a staff member kept by hand. The regulator found this breached the right of access and ordered full disclosure within four weeks.
A private hospital did not give a retired patient the discharge summary, case papers and receipts, so the insurance claim could not be filed. A district consumer commission ordered compensation and the papers supplied within one month.
A patient says the doctor who treated her at a private clinic refused her a detailed report of her care. A social security doctor asked too and was refused. She needs it for a medical board.
A patient asked a public hospital group several times for her own clinical records without success. The hospital did not answer the commission either; it ruled the records must be released, or their absence explained.
In a court claim reported by the outlet, a patient alleges that she asked a private clinic several times for her medical records and never received them. No defence had been filed.
A patient in a damages case says a private clinic refused her copies of her medical and anaesthesia records. A video of the procedure turned out to be deleted, and its documents gave conflicting figures.
After a patient died in hospital, his relatives sought access to his record. Cantonal authorities refused to release the doctor from secrecy, and the federal court agreed, saying confidentiality outlasts death and applies to relatives too.
The outlet reports that the mother of an adult woman in prison asked the clinic director for her daughter's medical file and was refused. She fears the record lists consultations and treatments that never happened.
A patient said a private hospital refused to release her records despite letters from her lawyer since the previous year. She wanted them to understand her past care. Her lawyer said he would go to court to obtain them.
A patient won a data access case ordering a dental clinic to give her certified copies of her record. The clinic did not comply. The Constitutional Court found it in breach, ordered delivery, a public apology and possible fines.
A patient asked a clinic twice for their medical data and file documents and got no answer. The regulator found no evidence of any reply, fined the clinic and ordered full responses and staff training.
A hospital refused to give a relative the serious adverse-event report it filed after a patient died. The courts ordered release of the parts about his health and care, and the hospital's appeal was rejected.
A patient asked a health provider for log data showing who had viewed their records over two years, with times and reasons. The provider said its system could not produce usable logs. The deputy ombudsman ordered it to supply them.
A friend acting for a patient said a private hospital denied their request for the patient's medical records, citing hospital policy, after something went wrong in the patient's care. No one from the hospital had met them to explain.
A patient complained that her surgeon refused to provide her medical file, among other complaints. On appeal, the national disciplinary tribunal found the complaint about the file partly justified, and the reprimand stayed in place.
A relative asked a university hospital for copies of a patient's earlier test results. The hospital replied it had no access to its electronic system because of a cyberattack; the outlet reports other patients got the same answer.
A patient arrived for a booked consultation and was sent away because staff could not open her medical history. The institute's board said 14 of 24 storage disks failed, forcing staff to record visits by hand for weeks.
A person paid a public insurer for certified copies of their deceased father's record but was handed a relative's record instead. After a complaint, the insurer found the father's file. The regulator ordered free certified copies.
