THE LEGITIMATE EXCEPTIONS TO THE DOCTOR–PATIENT PROFESSIONAL CONFIDENTIALITY

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to present statutory and non-statutory conditions that must be met in order for the disclosure of information covered by professional confidentiality in relation to the complex doctor–patient relationship to be legitimate. The article discusses the catalog of circumstances excluding the obligation of medical confidentiality, resulting from normative acts of the statutory rank (Act of 5 December 1996 on the professions of physician and dentist, Journal of Laws 1997 No. 28, item 152; Act of 6 November 2008 on patient rights and the Ombudsman for Patient Rights, Journal of Laws 2009 No. 52, item 417), as well as the provisions of the Medical Code of Ethics.