Obtaining Israeli Medical Records From the UK

A woman in Manchester needed her late father's Israeli hospital file to make a claim on a life-insurance policy he had held for thirty years. He had been treated in Haifa during his final illness, the insurer wanted the medical history, and the hospital, when she rang, told her politely that it could not discuss a patient's records with a caller in England. She was his daughter and his heir. She still could not get the file, and the claim sat frozen while she worked out why.

Getting medical records out of Israel from abroad is rarely hard in principle and often frustrating in practice. The law is clear and generous about who owns medical information. The obstacles are procedural: a confidentiality regime that does not bend to a phone call, forms that assume you can walk into the records office, and a file written in a language your insurer at home cannot read. Work with the procedure rather than against it and the records come. Ignore it and you lose weeks.

Your Right to the Record

Israel treats access to medical information as a patient right, not a favour the institution grants. Under Section 18 of the Patient's Rights Law 5756-1996, a patient is entitled to receive the medical information held about them in their record, and Section 17 puts a matching duty on the doctor or institution to create and keep that record in the first place. Nothing in either section depends on residence or citizenship. A British visitor who was treated in an Israeli emergency department has the same right of access as an Israeli living down the road.

The request does not have to come from you personally. Section 18 allows it to be made by the patient, by a family member, or by someone holding the patient's written power of attorney, such as a solicitor. That matters enormously for a non-resident, because it means you can appoint someone to collect the file without either of you appearing at the hospital.

Who holds the record depends on where the care happened. Hospital treatment lives in the hospital's own archive, reached through its medical-records unit. Community and clinic care sits with the relevant health fund (kupat holim). If a British patient was seen at both a hospital and a clinic on the same trip, that is two separate requests to two separate custodians.

If you are pursuing the records to support a possible claim, read them alongside our guide to medical malpractice claims in Israel for non-residents, because the record is the evidence any such claim stands or falls on.

In Practice: Under Section 18 of the Patient's Rights Law 5756-1996, you, a family member, or a holder of your signed power of attorney may demand a copy of the medical information an institution holds, and Section 17 obliges the institution to have kept it. In practice the hospital's medical-records unit releases the file within about 30 days of a complete request, against a copying charge of roughly NIS 150 to NIS 300 for a paper file, a figure capped by Ministry of Health rules. Submit a clear written request, a signed authorization on the institution's form, and a copy of your passport, and the clock effectively starts when that package is complete.

Making the Request From Abroad

The single most common reason a request stalls is an incomplete package. An Israeli records unit will not act on an email that simply asks for "my file." It wants a signed request, proof of identity, and, where a third party is collecting, proof of the authority to do so.

Build the request the way the institution expects it. Ask the specific hospital or health fund for its medical-records request form, complete it, and sign it. Attach a clear copy of the patient's passport or identity page. If a relative or a solicitor in the UK is acting for you, attach the power of attorney. Institutions vary on formality, and some accept a scanned signature by email while others insist on an original wet signature by post, so ask which before you send.

Language is the quiet obstacle. Israeli records are written in Hebrew, and often in the shorthand of Israeli clinical practice. The file you receive will be usable inside Israel and unusable to a GP in Leeds until it is translated. Plan for that from the start rather than discovering it after the insurer rejects the Hebrew original.

A word on the home side. Your right to the records is Israeli, but what you do with them once they reach the UK falls under UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018. That rarely obstructs you, but it is worth knowing that a UK solicitor or insurer handling the file has their own duties, and that the chain of custody, from the Israeli hospital to your representative to the insurer, should be clean.

Records of a Deceased Relative

This is where the daughter in Manchester ran aground, and it is the hardest part of the subject. The confidentiality duty in Section 19 of the Patient's Rights Law does not switch off when a patient dies. A doctor and an institution remain bound to keep the information private, which is why the Haifa hospital would not talk to a caller who had only asserted, over the phone, that she was the daughter.

That does not mean the records are sealed forever. Section 20 sets out when medical information may be passed to a third person, including where there is consent, a legal obligation to disclose, or a legitimate need connected to the patient's care. In the case of someone who has died, Israeli institutions will generally release records to close family for a proper purpose, such as pursuing a life-insurance or pension claim, investigating a suspected medical error, or understanding a hereditary condition. What they require first is proof: proof of the relationship, proof of the death, and often proof of your standing as an heir through a succession order.

Where an institution refuses, the route is a court. An Israeli court can order disclosure of a deceased person's medical records to a relative who shows a legitimate interest, balancing that interest against the privacy that survives death. This is slower and involves legal representation, but it is a real and used remedy.

In Practice: Because Section 19 confidentiality survives death, an institution will not release a deceased patient's file to a relative without proof of relationship and heirship, and Section 20 governs when it may disclose to a third party. Where the family meets those conditions, a certified English translation for a UK insurer or coroner costs NIS 251 for the first 100 words and NIS 197 for each additional 100 under the Notaries Regulations (Service Fees) 1978. If the institution refuses outright, you can escalate through its patient rights officer under Section 25 or apply to court, a process that commonly runs 4 to 12 weeks before you hold the file.

Translation, Certification, and Using the File at Home

Once you have the Hebrew record, two more steps usually stand between you and a usable document. First, translation. A UK insurer, an NHS consultant, a coroner, or a solicitor building a claim will want an English version they can rely on. A notarial translation carries the weight most institutions expect, and the Notaries Regulations set the fee at NIS 251 for the first 100 words and NIS 197 for each further 100 words up to a thousand.

Second, authentication of any authority you signed in the UK. When a relative or solicitor collects records under a power of attorney executed in Britain, an Israeli institution may ask for that power of attorney to be apostilled so it knows the signature is genuine. In the UK that means the FCDO Legalisation Office. The mechanics mirror those in our guide to how to apostille documents for use across borders, read in reverse: a UK document going to Israel is apostilled in the UK, not in Israel.

Keep the Hebrew original in every case. A translation is a companion to the source, not a replacement, and any Israeli authority or court will want to see the underlying record.

Common Mistake

Common Mistake: Assuming a relative can obtain a late parent's Israeli records with a phone call and a claim of kinship. The confidentiality duty under Section 19 of the Patient's Rights Law survives death, so an institution that cannot verify who you are and what right you hold will refuse, and the request stalls for weeks. Prepare the file the institution needs before you contact them: the death certificate, proof of your relationship, a succession order if you are claiming as an heir, and a clear statement of the legitimate purpose. A complete package moves; an assertion over the phone does not.

Practical Checklist

• Identify every custodian: each hospital that treated the patient, plus the relevant health fund for clinic care
• Request each institution's own medical-records form and complete it fully
• Include a copy of the patient's passport and, where a relative or solicitor acts, a power of attorney
• Confirm whether the institution accepts a scanned signature or requires an original by post
• For a deceased patient, assemble the death certificate, proof of relationship, and a succession order before you write
• Arrange a certified Hebrew-to-English translation once you hold the file, and keep the Hebrew original
• Apostille any UK-signed power of attorney through the FCDO before sending it to Israel

Speak With an Israeli Attorney

Records requests fail on procedure far more often than on principle, and a deceased relative's file adds a layer that trips up most families. An Israeli attorney can send the request in the form each institution expects, prove your standing as an heir, and, where an institution refuses, apply to court for a disclosure order so the records reach you in the UK.

Contact us for a confidential initial consultation.