Ever since Michael Schumacher suffered a debilitating accident in 2013, fans of the 7x champion don’t really have an insights into how their hero has been doing. The Schumacher family have been very private about how the Red Baron has been coping since. Now, the lawyer’s of the ex-Ferrari driver have revealed the underlying reason why the German’s condition keeps being shunned from the limelight, per the Daily Star.
Schumacher’s lawyer, Felix Damm, recently, shed light upon why the fans were being kept in the dark about Schumacher’s health. He told LTO (as quoted by the Daily Star), “It was always about protecting private things.” It all boiled down to an established legal precedent that would’ve meant Schumacher’s family not being in control if they released a health update about the Ferrari star and the media then picked it up. Damm explained, “If we then wanted to take action against this reporting, we would have to deal with the argument of voluntary self-disclosure.”
Despite concerns from Schumacher’s fans, if an official report were to be released, Damm believes, it would’ve let an ugly genie out of the bottle. “They could pick up on such a report again and again and ask: ‘And what does it look like now’, one, two, three months or years after the message.” This is where the doctrine of ‘Voluntary Disclosure’ would’ve kicked in. According to it, because the family would have had released a statement, they couldn’t have claimed their ‘right to privacy‘ when other media outlets kept badgering stories revolving around Schumacher’s health.
On the 29th of December, 2013, Michael Schumacher was holidaying with son Mick Schumacher and family when a crippling skiing accident at a resort in Meribel left the German champion stricken since.
Only Michael Schumacher’s ‘inner-circle’ know his real condition
While the public have no real concrete know-how of Schumacher’s state, the inner-circle that know the Red Baron well have those crucial insights. For instance, Jean Todt, who was at the helm of the Scuderia during Schumacher and Ferrari’s heyday in the late 90s and early 2000s, reportedly visits his old pal often.
Another man who was close to Schumacher is his ex-Benetton teammate, Johnny Herbert. However, he too, craves for some good news about his old rival. “There’s never any news. What we do know is we never hear any positive news. That’s the horrible thought that he is still not able to be close to the Michael that we all remember. And that is very sad,” told the Briton to Grosvenor Sport.
Alas, while all of us wish that Michael recovers soon again, the legal impediments roadblocking the way mean that the fans shouldn’t hold their breaths, waiting for an update on Schumacher’s condition anytime soon.
