Sick politician, celebrity, plain Smith. Limits of permitted dissemination of information on the state of patient’s health

Issues concerning the health constantly absorb the attention of the media and their audience. It is a common phenomenon, whose bond with making tabloidisation media would be a gross simplification. Certainly where reference is made to the health problems of people known from the circle of show business, the interest is not usually the result of other reasons, such as human curiosity. However, if we begin to make considerations about the health of the incumbent president or prime minister, the situation is quite different, and the reason justifying the publication of these data we find more. The same is true when we consider the cases of injured sportsmen included in the national team, the occurrence of which may prevent participation in major sporting events. The publication is an attempt to synthesize selected issues relating to the legal principles to provide information on health status. In this publication there were taken issues such as medical secrecy, a protection of the right to privacy and personal data against usually conflicting interests of the medical community and the media.
 

Issues concerning the health constantly absorb the attention of the media and their audience. It is a common phenomenon, whose bond with making tabloidisation media would be a gross simplification. Certainly where reference is made to the health problems of people known from the circle of show business, the interest is not usually the result of other reasons, such as human curiosity. However, if we begin to make considerations about the health of the incumbent president or prime minister, the situation is quite different, and the reason justifying the publication of these data we find more. The same is true when we consider the cases of injured sportsmen included in the national team, the occurrence of which may prevent participation in major sporting events. The publication is an attempt to synthesize selected issues relating to the legal principles to provide information on health status. In this publication there were taken issues such as medical secrecy, a protection of the right to privacy and personal data against usually conflicting interests of the medical community and the media.