Judgment No. 4556
Decision
The complaint is dismissed.
Summary
The complainant asks to be provided with a copy of his old medical file.
Judgment keywords
Keywords
medical records; complaint dismissed
Consideration 3
Extract:
The complainant requests that oral proceedings be held. However, the Tribunal considers that the parties have presented sufficiently extensive and detailed submissions and documents to allow the Tribunal to be properly informed of their arguments and the evidence. That application is therefore dismissed.
Keywords
oral proceedings
Consideration 4
Extract:
The complainant [...] seeks the setting aside of the IAC’s opinion. However, in itself, that opinion was merely a preparatory step in the process of reaching a final decision, which did not itself cause injury. As the Tribunal noted in Judgment 4392, consideration 5, “[a] request to declare the opinion of the [IAC] null and void is irreceivable as the [IAC] has authority to make only recommendations, not decisions”. Established precedent has it that such an opinion does not in itself constitute a decision causing injury which may be impugned before the Tribunal (see, for example, Judgments 3171, consideration 13, 4118, consideration 2, and 4464, consideration 10). It follows that this request is irreceivable.
Reference(s)
Jugement(s) TAOIT: 3171, 4118, 4392, 4464
Keywords
receivability of the complaint; step in the procedure; report of the internal appeals body
Consideration 10
Extract:
[I]n its opinion the IAC noted that, while there were no explicit legal provisions that could justify the complainant’s request for the Organisation to provide or procure such a file in the circumstances of the case, the Tribunal’s case law recognises that a staff member has the right to consult and be sent medical reports concerning her or him. The IAC rightly concluded that the Office had failed to ensure that files were properly retained, even after the external doctors with whom it had previously worked had ceased their activity. This obligation stems from the general duty of care and the Office’s duty adequately to safeguard the personal data of its staff.
Keywords
medical records; duty of care; personal data
Consideration 12
Extract:
The Tribunal’s case law states in respect of damages that the complainant bears the burden of proof and she or he must provide evidence, in particular, of the causal link between the unlawful act and the alleged injury (for example, Judgment 4156, consideration 5). On this point, in his submissions the complainant alleges affronts to his dignity, integrity and honour, damage to his health, and a lost opportunity to receive better therapy and rehabilitation and improve his relationship with his supervisors owing to the fact that it was physically impossible for the Organisation to provide him with a medical file that it did not possess. However, this injury has not been established, nor has the necessary causal link between the alleged unlawful act and the damages claimed. In these circumstances, it was open to the IAC, in its opinion that was endorsed by the President in his final decision, to take into account only the one element of moral injury it had identified. In the Tribunal’s opinion, the compensation of 5,000 euros that the IAC recommended and that the Organisation recognised was due to the complainant constitutes fair redress for that moral injury. The complainant’s request for an increase in that amount is unfounded.
Reference(s)
Jugement(s) TAOIT: 4156
Keywords
moral injury; medical records
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