It has been almost ten years since a serious skiing accident took Michael Schumacher out of the public eye – his health status has been unknown since then, despite some information and misinformation throughout this whole time.
The family and representatives of the seven-time Formula 1 world champion have never shared much about his condition, with a lot of secrecy surrounding the matter – including limited visits, which are restricted to a very small and close circle of family.
Felix Damm, lawyer for the Schumacher family, has now explained to LTO that it was considered to present an informative health bulletin, but recognized that it would never truly end the questions or let the matter pass:
– It has always been a matter of protecting private information. Of course, we have had many discussions about how to do it. We also considered whether a final announcement about Michael’s health could be the right way. But it would not have been the end and there would have been constantly updated “superficial reports”. Because as the affected person, it is not in your hands to tell the press to end the matter. The press could take such a report again and again and ask, “And how is he now,” one, two, three months, or years after the report. And if we wanted to take action against these news afterwards, we would have to deal with the argument of voluntary self-disclosure.”
