Michael Schumacher’s lawyer explains why there’s no “final report” on the F1 icon’s health

The condition of Schumacher has remained a private matter following his skiing accident in December 2013.

The German suffered a near-fatal brain injury and has not been seen publicly since the aforementioned accident. 

Since then, Schumacher has been recovering at his home in Switzerland.

Very few details have been released about the seven-time world champion’s condition.

In an interview with German media outlet LTO, Damm explained why the Schumacher family opted not to release a “final report” about Michael’s health.

“It was always about protecting private things,” he said. “We considered whether a final report about Michael’s health could be the right way to do this.

“But that wouldn’t have been the end of it and there would have had to be constantly updated ‘water level reports’ and it would not have been up to the family when the media interest in the story stopped.”

Damm believes had the report been released, the family would have been put under more scrutiny and pressure to share further updates as time progressed.

“They [the media] could pick up on such a report again and again and as ‘and what does it look like now?’ one, two, three months or years after the message,” he added. “If we then wanted to take action against this reporting, we would have to deal with the argument of voluntary self-disclosure.

“If it is not the person concerned himself but friends or acquaintances who disclose private information, it is not a case of ‘voluntary self-disclosure’ of privacy.

“Therefore, the data subject can defend himself against disclosure of private circumstances even if the information comes from an acquaintance.”