Medical records requests and other patient documents in Greece
In Greece a patient has the right to see their medical file and receive copies of it (art. 14 of the Code of Medical Ethics, Law 3418/2005); after the patient's death the right passes to heirs up to the fourth degree of kinship. Under the EU General Data Protection Regulation the first copy is free, as the Court of Justice of the EU held for a patient's medical file in 2023 (case C-307/22). The request for copies of a medical file names the department, the period of treatment and the documents wanted — discharge note, test results, imaging — so that nothing is left vague.
Every hospital of the national health system (ESY) has an Office for the Protection of the Rights of Health Service Users (art. 60 of Law 4368/2016), and the complaint to the patients' rights office of a Greek hospital is addressed to it; its registration number is the record for any later step. Under a private health policy, the insured event must be notified to the insurer within eight days of the insured learning of it (art. 7 of Law 2496/1997), and the notice of an insured event and claim under private health insurance gives notice and claims the benefit at once, with the attachments and the IBAN.
For a minor, consent to medical treatment is given by those who hold parental responsibility (art. 12 of Law 3418/2005). When a child stays with a grandparent or goes on a school trip or to camp, the parent's authorisation for a minor's medical care lets the carer take the child to a doctor and agree to routine care for a set period; for travel abroad it goes with the parent's consent for a minor to travel abroad. An employee off sick tells the employer with the notice of absence through sickness, among the employment documents. The documents are in Greek, and each page describes its document in English. You fill one in online and download a finished PDF, or download it blank. They are not medical or legal advice.
The documents
4 forms available to fill out or download.
Notice of an insured event and claim under private health insurance (Greece)
The letter in which an insured person in Greece notifies the insurer of a hospital stay, an operation or another insured event and claims the benefit the private health policy provides: the policy, the event, the healthcare provider and dates, the amount in figures and words, the IBAN and the attachments. Law 2496/1997 (art. 7) requires notice within eight days of learning of the event, and this letter gives notice and claims at once. Reimbursement from EOPYY, the public health fund, is claimed on its own forms.
Parent's authorisation for a minor's medical care by a carer (Greece)
gov.gr issues solemn declarations and authorisations free; this document gives you the wording, to paste there, or to sign as a PDF and have the signature certified free on docs.gov.gr or at a citizen service centre (ΚΕΠ). It is DocMuse's own text, not the Greek state's form. With it a parent allows whoever looks after the child in their absence — a grandparent, a school-trip or camp leader — to take the child to the doctor, receive information and agree to routine medical care for a set period, with the child's health details. Under the Greek Code of Medical Ethics, consent for a minor is given by those with parental care.
Complaint to the patients' rights office of a Greek hospital
The complaint a patient files when they consider their rights were breached in a hospital of Greece's national health system (ESY): what happened, when and in which department, which right was affected and what is asked for. It goes to the hospital's Office for the Protection of the Rights of Health Service Users, which every ESY hospital must have (art. 60 of Law 4368/2016), not to the management. It can be filed in person, by registered letter, fax or e-mail, and its registration number is the first document of any later step.
Request for copies of a medical file (Greece)
The request by which a patient in Greece asks a hospital, clinic or doctor for copies of their medical file — history, discharge note, tests, imaging — under art. 14 of Law 3418/2005, the Greek Code of Medical Ethics, and art. 15 of the General Data Protection Regulation. It names the department and the period of treatment, the documents wanted and how to receive them. The first copy is free, as the Greek Data Protection Authority also points out, and the provider answers without delay, as a rule within a month.