The aim of the paper is to present the legal regulations and the positions of the doctrine and the judicature concerning exemption of a physician from a duty of maintaining doctor-patient confidentiality with respect to prevention and combating of contagious diseases and infections. Pursuant to the Act of 05.12.1996 on the Professions of a Doctor and a Dentist, a physician is obliged to maintain doctor-patient confidentiality. Article 40 section 1 of the Act provides that a physician has a duty to keep confidential patient-related information obtained in connection with practising the profession. On the other hand, section 2 provides that the regulation contained in section 1 is not applied when: maintaining confidentiality can pose a danger to life or health of the patient or other people. The statutory guarantees pertaining to exemption from doctor-patient confidentiality should effectively serve to combat contagious diseases and infections. Moreover, possible legal responsibility that a physician can bear for breaking these regulations seems to support exemptions and restrictions of these rules.

Keywords: infectious disease, infection, control, prevention.