Personal health data in times of a pandemic-legal and ethical aspects

In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, it has repeatedly been argued that the protection of (public) health should at any rate take precedence over data protection. This argument is bold and clear, but it is neither ethically nor legally correct. While the fight against a pandemic can indeed requi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inWiener medizinische Wochenschrift Vol. 171; no. 1-2; p. 9
Main Authors Schmidhuber, Martina, Stöger, Karl
Format Journal Article
LanguageGerman
Published Austria 01.02.2021
Subjects
COVID-19
Humans
Pandemics
Public Health
SARS-CoV-2
COVID-19
Ethics
Law
Corona apps
Data protection
Risk certificates
Proof of immunity
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Summary:In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, it has repeatedly been argued that the protection of (public) health should at any rate take precedence over data protection. This argument is bold and clear, but it is neither ethically nor legally correct. While the fight against a pandemic can indeed require a more comprehensive access to sensitive health data than usual, it must be ensured that such a measure is only taken to the extent absolutely necessary. Furthermore, the wider context in which the data will be used must also be taken into consideration. This article gives three examples-certificates for members of risk groups, tracking apps and immunity certificates-to discuss some of the ethical and legal considerations to be taken into account. The authors aspire to illustrate that even in a pandemic, the balancing of arguments and the need for a proportionality of measures taken must never be forgotten.
ISSN:1563-258X
DOI:10.1007/s10354-020-00785-8