Closing your account and deleting your data are two different requests, and asking for one does not give you the other. You can stop using GetClinic and request closure of your patient account under Section 59A of the Patient Marketplace Terms of Service, subject to legal, security, payment, dispute, fraud-prevention and other lawful record-retention requirements. Erasure is a separate privacy right, exercised through the Privacy Rights and Data Request Portal or by emailing [email protected].
Deletion rights are not absolute
Section 13 of the Portal says so directly. GetClinic may retain data where the law permits or requires retention, including for legal obligations, fraud and security, payment and transaction evidence, legal claims and regulatory requirements.
The same section sets the limit on that. Anything retained should be confined to the lawful retained purpose and "not used as though the deletion request never occurred". Retention is not permission to carry on as before.
See all eleven privacy request types.
What GetClinic keeps, and for how long
Section 17 of the Patient Privacy Policy sets out indicative retention periods. These are the periods that shape what a deletion request can actually clear.
Section 17 calls these indicative operational targets rather than guaranteed holding periods: GetClinic may delete sooner where information is no longer needed, and retain longer where an unresolved dispute, legal hold, security incident or tax obligation applies.
The booking and payment row is the one that most often surprises people. A deletion request does not remove the transaction record of a booking you paid for, because retention of payment evidence is a legal obligation rather than a GetClinic preference.
What deletion at GetClinic does not reach
Deleting your GetClinic data does not delete the medical records your clinic is legally required to keep. The clinic you engage is an independent healthcare provider, and once it receives information for its own healthcare purposes it decides independently how to use and retain it under healthcare, medical-record and privacy law.
Section 4 of the Portal adds a second commitment that is worth knowing about: GetClinic will not tell you that a clinic record was deleted unless it has reliable evidence that the responsible clinic completed the action. If your request clearly concerns both GetClinic and a clinic, GetClinic may route the clinic-controlled part to the clinic or give you the clinic contact route. You should not have to understand controller and processor terminology to get a request to the right place.
See what the clinic receives, and when.
Washington consumer health data: propagation and the backup cap
Where the Washington My Health My Data Act applies and you submit an authenticated deletion request, deletion extends through GetClinic's relevant network and is propagated to the affiliates, processors, contractors and third parties the data was shared with, so they can honour it. GetClinic keeps evidence of that instruction.
Where covered data sits in archived or backup systems, deletion can be delayed until those systems are restored or cycled, but Section 11 of the Consumer Health Data Privacy Policy caps that delay at six months from authentication of the request. Section 13 of the Portal states that this six-month cap controls over any more general backup, archive or technical-deletion wording.
If a deletion request is refused
A refusal or partial refusal comes with the reason, to the extent the law permits GetClinic to give it, and with the available appeal, regulator-complaint or judicial-remedy information. Where an appeal right exists, Section 16 requires the appeal route to be conspicuous and substantially as easy to use as the original request. Washington consumer health data appeals get a written decision within 45 days, and a denial includes the route to contact the Washington Attorney General.
Withdrawing a consent is a different request again. Withdrawal applies to future processing only, and does not make earlier lawful processing unlawful. Where withdrawal stops a feature working, GetClinic explains the material consequence.
GetClinic is a technology marketplace. The clinic you choose provides your healthcare and is responsible for it. This article is general information about how GetClinic works, not medical advice.
See consumer health data rights in Washington and similar states. See the Patient Privacy Policy retention table.