We warmly invite you to join us for this research seminar on Tuesday, 7 July 2026. We look forward to welcoming Sara Roda, who will present her research investigating the critical evolution of professional secrecy and patient trust in an increasingly interconnected digital ecosystem. The seminar is titled :
Medical Confidentiality in the EHDS: Building a New European Legal Concept
📅 Event Details
- 📅 Date: Tuesday, 7 July 2026
- 🕒 Time: 12:30 - 13:30 CEST
- 📍 Location: Room C4.05
📝 Abstract
Medical confidentiality is an old concept at the core of the medical profession. It is a pillar of the patient-physician relationship. The concept has not been static over the years. It has adapted to the evolution of medicine and the working healthcare environment. The European Health Data Space (hereinafter “EHDS) is a new regulatory framework that facilitates access and use of electronic health data in Europe, covering both personal and non-personal electronic health data. The EHDS Regulation confers new rights for patients and several novel obligations for physicians, both in primary and secondary use purposes. The Regulation also entails interoperability requirements to allow interconnected electronic health records systems at national and EU level, within multidisciplinary and interprofessional teams. The volume and complexity of personal electronic health data exchanges will grow to unprecedent levels. This research proposes to: (a) build a European legal concept for medical confidentiality, by identifying its composing elements, which are deep-rooted in medical ethics and professional rules, (b) to ascertain how the EHDS Regulation will impact on those elements and (c) to determine whether the EHDS Regulation offers sufficient safeguards to preserve such concept, amid expanded data access and use of personal electronic health data, as well as data-sharing obligations. This research seeks, therefore, to improve the understanding of the medical confidentiality concept in general, in order to recognise more easily which of its composing elements are in tension with other values or rights and to be able to propose tailored protections for access and use of personal electronic health data when interpreting and implementing the EHDS Regulation. Without identifying these elements, it is not possible to establish a common understanding of the concept for the EU legal order and, consequently, a harmonised approach to interpret and implement the concept, as well as the adoption of measures to safeguard access and use of personal electronic health data, risks failure. Managing electronic health data deprived of medical confidentiality shatters the confidence and trust in the system, and in the patient-physician relationship, which privacy and personal data protection rights alone cannot overcome. Moreover, data protection laws are recently being questioned, seen as a stifling innovation and competitiveness, and proposals are being made to limit the application of data protection law. It is therefore helpful that distinct legal concepts and frameworks are used to protect health data covered by medical confidentiality, as well as the privacy and intimacy of patients. Finally, there are numerous grey areas when applying the EHDS Regulation, which can result from fragmented healthcare systems, Member States’ own competence afforded by the EHDS Regulation, and different legal interpretations from vague or intentional broad terminology. A common harmonised concept for medical confidentiality when implementing the EHDS Regulation should be welcomed. This research has the objective to offer recommendations for this policy and regulatory environment.