The year 2022 was the third consecutive year the Netherlands faced excess mortality. Although the link to the coronavirus as a cause is quickly made, the corona statistics do not explain the 2022 excess mortality numbers. The standing Parliamentary Committee on Public Health, Welfare and Sport wants the causes of excess mortality in the Netherlands to be identified. However, the Minister of Health, Welfare and Sport Ernst Kuijpers believes that the law thwarts the research of excess mortality. Martin Buijsen, Professor of Health Law at Erasmus School of Law, mapped the legal possibilities of such a study. According to him, investigating the causes of excess mortality would not violate (privacy) laws.
At the request of the standing Parliamentary Committee on Public Health, Welfare and Sport, Buijsen analysed what possibilities laws and regulations offer to investigate the causes of excess mortality. The committee asked Buijsen eight questions on personal data protection, the General Data Protection Regulation (in Dutch: AVG), the role and powers of the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) and other issues relevant to collecting the necessary data to investigate the causes of excess mortality.
"Research into excess mortality requires a good understanding of medical confidentiality.”
According to Buijsen, the CBS would have the proper authority to request the necessary data from the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment and possibly from healthcare practitioners and other third parties. Also, when the CBS takes appropriate measures to avoid recognising individuals in the data, it could provide these data to researchers who could then identify the causes of excess mortality. In answering the questions of the Members of the Parliament, Buijsen discusses the elaboration of the Dutch AVG, the CBS Act, the Medical Treatment Agreement Act, and other relevant national and international laws and regulations. To achieve proper data provision and protection in an investigation like this, Buijsen highlights one condition: “Research into excess mortality requires a good understanding of medical confidentiality.”
A roundtable discussion with relevant organisations and experts from the collaboration Parliament and Science will take place on 16 March 2023.
- Professor