Protection of personal health data

Any information relating to natural persons that are identified or identifiable are called personal data. Personal health data is any information on the physical and mental health of a person whose identity is specific or identifiable. Personal health datas are sensitive personal data. The reason of sensitivity is that if this information is disclosed, it is highly probable that the person will be compensated for their special, social and economic life. The processing of these kind of datas is, as a rule, prohibited, since personal health datas are vital to the individual's physical and intangible existence. Processing is only possible in exceptional conditions. These exceptions are regulated in the Law No. 6698 on the Protection of Personal Data. In exceptional cases, the processing activity must comply with the principles for the processing of personal data. The data owner can protect personal health datas using the rights prescribed by the Personal Data Protection Act. In terms of contracts that include provisions for the general transaction condition for processing personal health data, the provisions regulating the general transaction conditions between 20 and 25 of the Turkish Code of Obligations may be applied. Individuals whose personal rights are violated as a result of the unlawful processing of personal health data have the opportunity to protect their personalities by suing referred to in Article 25 of the Turkish Civil Code. According to Article 23 it is also possible to protect persons from their legal acts which are contrary to law or morality. Keywords personal data, personal health data, protection of personal data, protection of personal health data