Company doctor must keep quiet about the problems of employees

The company doctor is subject to the same medical confidentiality as any other doctor. Prof. Hans Drexler, occupational physician at the University of Erlangen, points this out to the news agency "dpa". Employees could confidently turn to the company doctor in case of problems. Because this may not pass personal information to the employer. Otherwise he makes himself liable to prosecution.

Employees are afraid that boss will be informed by the company doctor about mental health problems
A visit to the company doctor causes some employees in a panic. "Does the boss learn about the examination results?", "Will I lose my job?" - Questions like these often crop up, especially when it comes to psychological problems such as depression, burnout or anxiety disorders. Such disorders are often taboo in the workplace, although mental health problems associated with musculoskeletal disorders are now among the most common causes of absenteeism at work. According to the DAK Health Report for 2014, 17 percent of sick leave were attributable to mental illness, which is second only to absenteeism. Yet, many workers worry that their boss may learn about their problem by entrusting their concerns to the company doctor.

"Some feel that the doctor is a kind of extended arm of the boss," Drexler reports. But also for the company doctor the confidentiality applies. If he breaks this, for example by informing the supervisor about problems of an employee, he makes himself liable to prosecution. The company doctor should not pass details to the employer, so Drexler. This also applies if an employee returns to the company after a long illness. The doctor should then only make a judgment as to whether a specific workplace is suitable from a medical point of view. A justification why this is so, however, is taboo for the physician. Unless the cooperation exempts the company doctor exceptionally and expressly from his duty of confidentiality. (Ag)

Image: Tim Reckmann / pixelio.de