GOSPODO, PREDSJEDNIK IMA KARCINOM
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, THE PRESIDENT HAS CANCER

Summary/Abstract: Based on Elias' theory of civilization we have analyzed the relation of contemporary communities regarding the right of public personalities (the president of a country) to the privacy of information concerning their health. What is the attitude of the doctor to contemporary bioethical principles? The answer to this question has been sought for in a comparative cross-national analysis of illnesses of the French president Francois Mitterand, the German chancellor Helmut Kohl and a few presidentiai candidates and presidents of the United States (Bob Dole, Dwight Eisenhower, T.D. Roosevelt, J.E Kennedy ...) The patterns of revealing medical secrets in cases of leading statesmen are recognizable: 1. Retrospective studies of illnesses of leading politicians (illnesses, diagnoses, therapy, causes of death - studies of the illness and death of Francois Mitterand and Hubert Humphrey). 2. Ad hoc statements of hazardous health conditions (the attack on Ronald Reagan, B. Jelcin's heart attack, H. Kohl's prostate gland surgery) 3. Prognoses of the expected health condition of presidentiai candidates serving as a source of information for voters at the oncoming presidentiai elections (Bob Dole, Bill Clinton).

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