Short comment.
On the evening of December 12, the news of Hong Kong star Zhou Haimei's death was confirmed, and a relevant rescue medical record suspected of her before her death was circulated on the Internet. The Beijing Shunyi District Health Commission said that a special person was investigating the incident with **, and the staff of the hospital involved said, "It has not yet been determined whether it was leaked by employees or deliberately filmed and posted on the Internet by people with intentions at the scene."
The leakage of such an emergency medical record is not only an extreme disrespect for the rights and interests of the deceased, but also a loss of public trust in the institutions involved.
The leakage path of celebrity emergency electronic medical records may take time to be further restored, but judging from the information spread on the Internet, the convenience of obtaining and filming relevant content has a high probability of pointing to the hospital involved. Taking 10,000 steps back, even if it is really a "well-intentioned person" who can obtain celebrity medical information through such a convenient means, it also proves the fact that the hospital involved does not protect patient information effectively and has chaotic management.
Prior to this, celebrity medical treatment and medical information leakage were not isolated cases, including Nicholas Tse, Lin Junjie, Lin Gengxin and many other artists have encountered the leakage of medical information by medical staff of tertiary hospitals. It must be made clear that the law protects the rights of all citizens to personal information from infringement, which is a solemn attitude that the state has continuously increased from administrative law enforcement to public security punishment, from civil law to criminal law. As early as February 2009, the Criminal Law Amendment (VII) added relevant crimes, stipulating the crime of illegally providing citizens' personal information and illegally obtaining citizens' personal information, and the Criminal Law Amendment (IX) in November 2015 revised this article to the crime of infringing on citizens' personal information. The Personal Information Protection** issued in 2021 has systematically improved the legal barrier for the protection of citizens' personal information.
This time, Zhou Haimei's rescue medical records are suspected to have been leaked, and ** has been involved in the investigation. Although the circumstances of each case alone may not be sufficient to lead to criminal prosecution, the Public Security Administration Punishment Law also clearly sets penalties for "eavesdropping and disseminating other people's privacy". What's more, the Civil Code also makes it clear that medical institutions and their medical staff should keep patients' privacy and personal information confidential. Those who disclose the patient's privacy and personal information, or disclose the patient's medical records without the patient's consent, shall bear tort liability.
Celebrities bring their own topics and traffic, but this is not a reason for public service organizations, including medical institutions and airlines, to use their positions to wantonly steal, disseminate or even peddle relevant private information. On the contrary, through the fact that celebrities' privacy rights have been wantonly trampled on, we can also see that more ordinary people's personal information is being played with and snooped on by some people through the convenience of their positions.
To defend citizens' privacy rights and interests, it is not necessary to summon the Heavenly Sword and the Dragon Slayer Knife, but there must be a stronger legal attitude. In November 2023, the Beijing High People's Court released the "Trial of Infringement of Citizens' Personal Information***", which shows that since 2018, 98 defendants have been sentenced to less than five years in prison for infringing on citizens' personal information7%, which also includes criminal detention, single fines, and exemption from criminal punishment, and the rate of heavy sentences is low, and the application rate of suspended sentences is basically 14Around 6%. 832%, which is the majority.
Infringement of citizens' personal information, especially the use of one's position to obtain, disseminate, or peddle citizens' personal information, not only has a high threshold for criminalization, but also has a high rate of misdemeanors after conviction. Cracking down on the infringement of citizens' personal information rights requires a stricter and clearer attitude at the legal level, and each individual practice will in turn become a guide for social behavior.
Although it is because of Zhou Haimei's star aura that the leakage of citizens' medical information has caused heated discussions on the whole network, it does not mean that only celebrities deserve to enjoy privacy. More ordinary people can see the real status quo of personal information protection from the personal information leakage cases of deceased celebrities, and the whole society should also take this opportunity to promote the strong protection of the personal information rights of ordinary citizens by national laws.