Court grants children access to father’s dental records

A Tallinn Administrative Court has ruled that the minor children of a man declared dead after disappearing in Ukraine must be given access to his dental records, ERR reported. The information may be needed to identify his possible remains.

The Health and Welfare Information Systems Centre, known as TEHIK, had refused to release the records because the children did not have an inheritance certificate.

Their father disappeared while fighting as a volunteer in Ukraine, and his remains have not been recovered from the combat zone. He was declared dead by a ruling of the Tallinn Circuit Court last year.

The children sought access to their father’s dental records to begin the process of locating and bringing his possible remains back to Estonia. They also want to obtain an official death certificate from a Ukrainian court.

The family had decided to renounce the inheritance for financial reasons, meaning the children were not heirs. TEHIK therefore said they needed a document proving inheritance to access the dental records.

In its August 14 ruling, the Tallinn Administrative Court fully upheld the family’s complaint. The court said the children’s family relationship gave them the right to access their deceased father’s health data in order to exercise their constitutional right to bury him.

The court found that denying access would leave the children’s right to bury their father existing only on paper, without allowing them to exercise it in practice. It also said that the state, including agencies such as TEHIK, must act in the best interests of the child.

The ruling has not yet taken effect.