ADR-035 — Legal Guardian Fields in Patient

Status: Approved | Date: 2026-06-20 | Scope: ObelioCore (Patient model) + all plugins that handle consents or signatures

Context

Spanish healthcare law requires that minors, legally incapacitated persons, persons with dementia, and other patients who cannot consent for themselves must have a legal guardian who can sign informed consents and clinical documents on their behalf.

Relevant regulations:

• Ley 41/2002 — Patient autonomy and rights (informed consent)
• LO 1/1996 — Legal protection of minors (updated by LO 8/2021)
• RGPD / LOPDGDD — Consent requirements for data processing

Decision

ObelioCore's obelio_core_patient table includes 12 legal guardian fields:

Field	Type	Purpose
requires_legal_guardian	TINYINT(1)	Flag: this patient needs a guardian to sign
legal_guardian_first_name	VARCHAR(100)	Guardian given name
legal_guardian_last_name	VARCHAR(150)	Guardian family name
legal_guardian_nif	VARCHAR(20)	Guardian national ID
legal_guardian_relationship	VARCHAR(50)	Relationship to patient (parent, spouse, etc.)
legal_guardian_phone	VARCHAR(20)	Guardian contact phone
legal_guardian_email	VARCHAR(255)	Guardian contact email
legal_guardian_address	TEXT	Guardian postal address
legal_guardian_since	DATE	Date guardianship started
legal_guardian_until	DATE	Date guardianship ends (null = indefinite)
guardianship_document_ref	VARCHAR(100)	Reference to uploaded guardianship document
guardianship_notes	TEXT	Free-text notes for clinical staff

Plugins affected

Any plugin that handles signatures or consent must check requires_legal_guardian and route signing to the guardian when true:

• ObelioConsents — consent forms must be signed by guardian
• ObelioDocs — clinical documents may require guardian countersignature
• ObelioComms — reminders and notifications go to guardian contact fields
• ObelioScheduling — appointment confirmations copy the guardian
• ObelioAudit — audit events record who actually signed (patient or guardian)
• ObelioForms — form submissions require guardian acknowledgement when applicable

Audit event requirement

When a guardian signs instead of a patient, the audit event must record:

{
  "actor_type": "legal_guardian",
  "guardian_nif": "12345678A",
  "guardian_relationship": "parent",
  "patient_id": 1234
}

Consequences

• ObelioCore data model is the single source of guardian information
• All plugins read this data from ObelioCore rather than duplicating it
• UI must clearly indicate when a patient requires guardian presence
• Forms must not allow patient signature when requires_legal_guardian = true