Where does legitimate criticism end and an infringement of the law begin? A patient’s opinion that “the treatment was ineffective” falls within the bounds of freedom of expression. By contrast, stating that a doctor “deliberately harmed a patient for financial gain” – without any evidence – may amount to an infringement of personal rights.

An article entitled “Personal Rights of Doctors and Dentists – What You Need to Know” by Wojciech Koźmiński, attorney-at-law and Counsel at Jabłoński Koźmiński & Partners, has been published in Puls, the monthly journal of the Regional Medical Chamber in Warsaw.

The author identifies three areas that are most commonly affected:

• professional reputation – for example, false allegations of medical malpractice;
• image rights – such as publishing recordings made in a medical practice without consent;
• privacy – including the disclosure of information unrelated to the doctor’s professional activities.

The article pays particular attention to risks associated with artificial intelligence – including deepfakes, chatbot hallucinations generating false biographies and fictitious scandals, as well as algorithmic aggregation of negative reviews, which can distort a doctor’s public image even without a single review being factually untrue.

The article also outlines practical legal steps that may be taken in response to such infringements – from preserving evidence and issuing a formal demand to cease the infringement, through to pursuing civil and criminal remedies.

The full article is available below or here.