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Protecting Patient Privacy or Serving Public Interests? Challenges to Medical Confidentiality in Imperial Germany

Maehle, AH

Authors



Abstract

With the Penal Code of 1871, confidentiality became a legal requirement for physicians, surgeons, and other health professions throughout Imperial Germany. However, based on an analysis of the relevant legal cases up to the First World War, this article argues that the professional secrecy of German doctors was increasingly challenged by an ethos that put public interests before patient privacy. This development became particularly tangible in cases of venereal disease, or when interests of the state in criminal prosecution were involved. Yet, medical confidentiality was still better protected in Imperial Germany than in contemporary Britain.

Citation

Maehle, A. (2003). Protecting Patient Privacy or Serving Public Interests? Challenges to Medical Confidentiality in Imperial Germany. Social History of Medicine, 16(3), 383-401. https://doi.org/10.1093/shm/16.3.383

Journal Article Type Article
Publication Date 2003-12
Deposit Date Apr 11, 2007
Journal Social History of Medicine
Print ISSN 0951-631X
Electronic ISSN 1477-4666
Publisher Oxford University Press
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 16
Issue 3
Pages 383-401
DOI https://doi.org/10.1093/shm/16.3.383
Keywords Medical confidentiality, Professional secrecy, Imperial Germany, Medical law, Medical ethics, Medical profession, Venereal disease, Abortion.