[Evaluation of the Dutch Medical Treatment Act (WGBO)]

Five years after its implementation, the Dutch Medical Treatment Act, which regulates the doctor patient contract, was evaluated in an extensive study. This act regulates (a) the right of patients to be informed and to give consent and (b) how to deal with confidential patient data. The main outcome from this study is that, in general, physicians are aware of the most important patient rights laid down in the Act and that compliance with these is mostly satisfactory. Nevertheless, the implementation can still be improved in several areas, notably the application of the more abstract provisions of the Act in everyday practice. It is recommended that measures be taken in the education and further training of health professionals and that guidelines are developed that detail how to deal with the rights of a patient in specific situations.