ZDRAVSTVENO STANJE VISOKIH DRŽAVNIH DUŽNOSNIKA KAO POLITIČKO I USTAVNOPRAVNO PITANJE - SLUČAJ BOLESTI PREDSJEDNIKA FRANJE TUĐMANA.

Although the sickness can equally befall each person in hectic living conditions, yet when illness strikes President of the State or Prime minister, a different perception emerges in public. Image of strenght and the ability of state official is critical for existence of public confidence and stability of the political system. Elementary question that arises is, when for health reasons, desired public image is left out: whether to inform the public about his health, to which extent, to deny it, or even to cover it up. In this paper we examine the situation of the disease that involves high government official: President of the State, Prime minister, minister, member of the representative assembly, in one word politician, and its impact on his actions and decisions which may have or have consequences for the public interest and government policies that are being implemented. The paper deals with content and nature of the relationship between a physician and a medical team and high government official, the role of the physician in determining the need to carry out succession procedure of high government official because of a disease that prevents him to perform his powers and duties, informing the public about the health of the government official, when and should it be restricted, and the development of public culture in that field. The disease of the first Croatian president Franjo Tuđman was analyzed through the above-mentioned aspects, and author gives a review and assessment of its political and constitutional resolving with commentary of current constitutional regulation of this issue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]