Informing the donor and obtaining their consent is a legal obligation

The lack of effective treatment for the COVID-19 epidemic continues to increase the fear of getting the disease. It is of great importance to use the available remedies to hand, until an effective and efficient treatment of the disease is found.

One of the methods used in the treatment of the disease is the method of taking antibodies from recovering patients. Antibody treatment is taken from the blood of those who have had Covid-19 and recovered, and are taken from immune proteins called antibodies, that paralyze the virus and render it ineffective.

Cyprus International University (CIU) Faculty of Law Vice Dean, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Şölen Külahçı, stated that it is important for people who have had the disease to donate blood in order to provide antibody therapy, by acting selflessly, and explained “Since blood donation is an action that can only be done voluntarily, the importance of donation should be explained to the public. In addition, according to Personal Data Law, the donor should be informed in detail about how long antibodies will be stored after donation and for what purposes". Pointing out that human blood, organs and tissues constitute a part of personal right; Külahçı said that the donor should be informed about the fate of the samples in question after donation.

Noting that it is illegal to receive donations from a person without informing them, Külahçı said, “a written form covering all the details relating to this issue should be prepared. After it has been explained to the patient in a way that they can understand, in accordance to their social and psychological state, it is a legal obligation to obtain their consent.”

Underlining that the identity information of the donor should never be disclosed without their consent, Külahçı went on to say, "according to the Law on Protection of Personal Data, disclosure of data without consent constitutes a crime and legal action is initiated against those who disclosed it." Stating that sharing of information about the patient is considered a violation of the patient's right to privacy, Külahçı said that such a violation of the patient's right to privacy is a crime in the law.

Külahçı informed that according to article 36/2, if the data is disclosed by a person who has access to it, the persons in question could be fined 10,000 TL, and noted that a heavier sanction can be imposed if the data is disclosed by an unauthorized person. According to the Law, "anyone who is unauthorized, interferes with a file containing personal data, obtains it, or deletes, changes, distorts, destroys, processes, transmits and transfers, causes the data to pass to unauthorized hands or such, or enables someone else to obtain the data, or if they use it in some way, has committed a crime. “In the case of a conviction, an individual may be fined 15,000YTL (Fifteen Thousand New Turkish Lira), or be given a 5 years prison sentence, or both (a.36/1)” stated Külahçı.