Dutch test case over records

Amsterdam's prestigious Academic Medical Centre is seeking to protect the secrecy of medical records during criminal investigations through a legal test case in the Dutch high court.

Earlier this year the hospital was forced to hand over medical records when police threatened a surprise raid to seize them. Now it fears a shift in favour of police investigations and against patients' rights after an Amsterdam court last month rejected their appeal against the seizure of medical records.

In March a 33 year old woman was brought into the hospital's accident …