# Korea medical-record copies

> Choose the existing records and the requester route before preparing the documents.

Written by the Girokdari Health Records Study Group editorial team on October 29, 2026. Canonical address: https://medicalrecordsguide.org/topics/getting-your-records.

## Where do medical-record requests begin?

Identify the existing record and the requester before choosing the document list.

The request article explains existing-record access; the family article explains relationship, age and consent conditions. Use the checklist to compare general categories without submitting patient documents.

## Why do medical-record requests distinguish new certificates?

Copying an existing document differs from first issuance of a diagnosis certificate or opinion.

Article 21 and Article 17 address different subjects. A recipient’s document name should be clarified by its requested contents.

The certificate-versus-opinion article sets out those distinctions without deciding a clinical assessment.

## How do medical-record requests handle unpaid charges?

Treatment debt and unpaid copying fees are different issues in the Ministry handbook.

The unpaid-bills article links both handbook passages and the limits of the viewing-fee interpretation. A specific refusal reason needs its own facts; this topic does not decide an individual dispute.

## What else do people ask about medical-record requests?

### Where do medical-record requests begin?

Identify the existing record and the requester before choosing the document list.

### Why do medical-record requests distinguish new certificates?

Copying an existing document differs from first issuance of a diagnosis certificate or opinion.

### How do medical-record requests handle unpaid charges?

Treatment debt and unpaid copying fees are different issues in the Ministry handbook.

## Where do these numbers come from?

- [Medical Service Act, Article 21: access to records](https://www.law.go.kr/LSW/lsSideInfoP.do?docCls=jo&joBrNo=00&joNo=0021&lsiSeq=290667&urlMode=lsScJoRltInfoR) - Ministry of Health and Welfare / National Law Information Center
- [Enforcement Rule, Article 13-3: requirements for record requests](https://www.law.go.kr/lsLinkCommonInfo.do?chrClsCd=010202&lsJoLnkSeq=1028280683) - Ministry of Health and Welfare / National Law Information Center
- [Medical Service Act, Article 17: diagnosis certificates](https://www.law.go.kr/LSW/lsSideInfoP.do?docCls=jo&joBrNo=00&joNo=0017&lsiSeq=290667&urlMode=lsScJoRltInfoR) - Ministry of Health and Welfare / National Law Information Center
- [2022 handbook on medical institutions and medical corporations](https://www.yeonsu.go.kr/clinic/institution/hospital_notice.asp?page=v&seq=162) - Yeonsu-gu Public Health Center