A doctor who reveals a patient’s secret commits a crime under Section 203 of the Criminal Code. The same applies to pharmacists, lawyers, notaries and several other professions. The penalty is up to one year in prison or a fine. The law states that it is not a disclosure when the doctor makes the secret accessible to the assistants who work in the practice. The receptionist and the assistant are inside the circle. A private insurer is outside it. Before a doctor may give a private insurer information, the patient must consent, usually by signing a Schweigepflichtentbindung, a release from the duty of confidentiality.