PROFESIONALNA TAJNA LEKARA

Abstract

Performing medical services has always presumed the duty of professional secrecy. This is understanding since, by respecting this duty, healthworkers not only protect the patients' privacy, but also provide a successful treatment which could not be achieved without a doctor-patient confidential and trustworthy relationship. By researching the concept of medical professional secrecy, the author of this paper first reviews its origin and development, and then defines the legal and ethical framework of the duty of medical professional secrecy in Serbian legislation. The essential goal of this paper is to determine what is assumed under the concept of medical professional secrecy, what kind of information about the patients are regarded as confidential and who are the individuals that are bound by the duty of professional secrecy. In concluding remarks, the author argues that the introduction of sophisticated technologies and division of labor in medical field allowed a number of people to have access to patients' medical data, which has resulted in the evolution and relativization of the concept of medical professional secrecy and significant intrusion into the patient's personal life.