ABSTRACT
This chapter introduces how medical confidentiality is protected as part of the constitutional personality right and by criminal, contract and tort law. It analyses how courts resolve conflicts between medical confidentiality and the interests in crime prevention and criminal prosecution by interpreting the relevant provisions of the Criminal Code and the Code of Criminal Procedure in the light of the constitutional protection of medical confidentiality. In German law, fundamental rights are protected both under the German Constitution and under the European Convention on Human Rights. The right to medical confidentiality is not expressly guaranteed by the German Constitution; neither is the right to privacy. The wording of s.53 of the Code of Criminal Procedure gives the physician the right, rather than imposing upon him/her an obligation, to refuse to testify in criminal court. A breach of medical confidentiality can only be justified if a legal justification applies.
