Prevention and Combating of Contagious Diseases and Infections in the Context of Exemptions from Doctor-Patient Confidentiality
Jolanta Pacian
Uniwersytet Medyczny w Lublinie , PolandAbstract
The aim of the paper is to present the legal regulations and the positions of the doctrine and the judicature concerning exemption of a physician from a duty of maintaining doctor-patient confidentiality with respect to prevention and combating of contagious diseases and infections. Pursuant to the Act of 05.12.1996 on the Professions of a Doctor and a Dentist, a physician is obliged to maintain doctor-patient confidentiality. Article 40 section 1 of the Act provides that a physician has a duty to keep confidential patient-related information obtained in connection with practising the profession. On the other hand, section 2 provides that the regulation contained in section 1 is not applied when: maintaining confidentiality can pose a danger to life or health of the patient or other people. The statutory guarantees pertaining to exemption from doctor-patient confidentiality should effectively serve to combat contagious diseases and infections. Moreover, possible legal responsibility that a physician can bear for breaking these regulations seems to support exemptions and restrictions of these rules.
Keywords:
infectious disease, infection, control, preventionReferences
Boratyńska M., Autonomia pacjenta a granice upoważnienia osoby bliskiej i zaufanej, „Prawo i Medycyna” 2014, nr 1.
Huk A., Tajemnica zawodowa lekarza, „Prokuratura i Prawo” 2001, nr 6.
Jabłoński L., Epidemiologia, Lublin 1996.
Kardas P., Konstytucyjne i ustawowe aspekty ochrony tajemnicy zawodowej powierzonej przedstawicielom zawodów zaufania publicznego, „Czasopismo Prawa Karnego i Nauk Penalnych” 2014, nr 4.
Kubiak R., Prawo medyczne, Warszawa 2014.
Kulesza W., AIDS a prawnokarne problemy tajemnicy lekarskiej, [w:] A.J. Szwarc (red.), AIDS i prawo karne, Poznań 1996.
Liszewska A., Robaczyński W., AIDS a tajemnica lekarska, Poznań 2001.
Nesterowicz M., Glosa do wyroku SA w Warszawie z dnia 30.10.2015 r., I ACa 189/15, odpowiedzialność szpitala za zakażenia bakteryjne podczas porodu, Prawo medyczne. Komentarze i glosy do orzeczeń sądowych, Warszawa 2017.
Nesterowicz M., Prawo medyczne, wyd. 11, Toruń 2016.
Rydlichowska D., Tajemnica lekarska w postępowaniu karnym, „Prokuratura i Prawo” 2015, nr 9.
Sibiga G., Po śmierci pacjenta nie ma już żadnych tajemnic, „Rzeczpospolita”, PCD 2016, nr 8.
Szewczyk M., Prawnokarna ochrona tajemnicy zawodowej lekarza, „Czasopismo Prawa Karnego i Nauk Penalnych” 2000, z. 1.
License
The Author declares that the Work is original and does not infringe any personal or proprietary rights of third parties, and that She/He has unlimited rights to the Work which are the subject of the Agreement signed with the Publisher.
Author of the publication transfers to the Publisher the economic copyrights to the Work (article) submitted for publication, free of charge, without time and territorial restrictions in the following fields of use:
a) production, recording and reproduction of the copies of the Work by a specific technique, including printing, magnetic recording and digital technology;
b) marketing, lending or rental of the original or copies of the Work, and distribution in the form of open access, in accordance with the license Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (also known as CC BY), available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode.pl;
c) inclusing the Work in the composition of the collective work;
d) publishing on the website of the journal, public performance, exhibition, display, reproduction, broadcasting and rebroadcasting, and making the Work available to the public in such a way that everyone can have access to them in a place and at a time chosen by them;
e) uploading the Work in an electronic form to electronic platforms or other uploading of the Work in an electronic form to the Internet or other network.
The proprietary copyright to the Work is transferred to the Publisher free of charge upon signing the contract wit the Publisher.
