Legal frameworks
For archiving and distributing medical data exists a legal set of rules, that precisely specifies the requirements. marc fulfills the current requirements and also commits to meet future standards.
The storage of X-ray images
The Federal Ministry for Social Security and Generations has informed the Austrian Medical Association about the legal regulations for the storage of radiographs:
X-ray images are in accordance with § 51 Abs. 3 Ärztegesetz 1998. BGBl. I No. 169, other, the documentation in the sense of § 51 Abs. 1 leg.cit. relevant documents and therefore in accordance with § 51 Abs. 3 leg.cit. ten years from the end of treatment.
As a result of an interpretation of the legal interests or interests between the physician's obligation to keep the patient and the patient's health, the obligation to retain the right to rescind has to be withdrawn.
The answer to the question depends on who can be regarded as the owner of the X-ray images.
On the basis of the opinion obtained and with reference to relevant literature and jurisprudence, a differentiated view is held by the health department. The content of the treatment contract is decisive.
If the production of radiographs is agreed upon, as is customary in medical radiology diagnostics, the patient becomes the owner of the X-ray image as a result of the treatment contract, which is then largely to be qualified as a contract for work, with the result that the patient must be handed over the original on the basis of his civil law claim.
If, on the other hand, the production of an x-ray image is merely ancillary to a treatment contract, the doctor or health care provider remains the owner of the X-ray image. It is to be considered, for example, to the X-ray image of dentists.
In the last-mentioned constellation, the patient's right of access, which is deduced from the nature of the treatment contract as a secondary obligation, and which is also anchored in hospital and physician rights applies.
It also includes at least the patient's right to request copies of his documentation. The cost of these copies is borne by the patient. If the technical possibilities for this are not available, the physician is obliged to surrender the original, taking into account the above-mentioned balancing of legal interests.
Since there are no special formal requirements, there is no need for a separate declaration of acceptance, even though this can certainly be useful for the purpose of proof-of-preservation. However, a corresponding note must be made in the patient's medical history.
There are no explicit legal provisions, even if it would be sensible that every physician treating a radiograph had a radiograph. However, this will be virtually impossible, since copies will incur additional costs and will not be available in any case.
It is recommended that the doctor in charge of the last treatment keep the X-ray image, and the other doctors in the patient's health record where the radiograph is.