Medical privacy and liability for its violation: The experience of the U.S. and Canada

The aim of this research paper is to conduct a comparative legal study of medical privacy protection based on the regulatory practices of the United States and Canada. The research relevance stems from the growing role of information in the modern world, driven by the rapid development of information and communication technologies (ICT) and the emergence of new challenges related to unauthorized access to personal data. Medical information is treated as sensitive data requiring special protection due to its direct and intimate connection to specific individuals. This explains the specialized regulations in the US and Canada to safeguard medical privacy, backed by liability measures. The study employs the following methods: system analysis, which examines medical privacy protection systems holistically in each country; comparative legal analysis, which juxtaposes specific regulatory aspects of liability for medical privacy violations; analogy, which identifies similarities and parallels across jurisdictions; induction, which extracts common features from particular provisions; and retrospective analysis, which traces the historical evolution and refinements in medical privacy protection. The research yields several conclusions regarding both countries and assesses development trends in medical privacy protection in the US and Canada.