diff --git a/libpod/container_internal.go b/libpod/container_internal.go
index 042a6a4c153..c159876dc6d 100644
--- a/libpod/container_internal.go
+++ b/libpod/container_internal.go
@@ -230,7 +230,9 @@ func (c *Container) shouldRestart() bool {
 	if c.config.HealthCheckOnFailureAction == define.HealthCheckOnFailureActionRestart {
 		isUnhealthy, err := c.isUnhealthy()
 		if err != nil {
+			// If the state cannot be determined, assume unhealthy.
 			logrus.Errorf("Checking if container is unhealthy: %v", err)
+			return true
 		} else if isUnhealthy {
 			return true
 		}
diff --git a/libpod/define/errors.go b/libpod/define/errors.go
index 47b50a6a64c..0572cc118e7 100644
--- a/libpod/define/errors.go
+++ b/libpod/define/errors.go
@@ -226,4 +226,8 @@ var (
 
 	// ErrHealthCheckTimeout indicates that a HealthCheck timed out.
 	ErrHealthCheckTimeout = errors.New("healthcheck command exceeded timeout")
+
+	// ErrHealthCheckLogCorrupted indicates that the healthcheck log
+	// cannot be parsed.
+	ErrHealthCheckLogCorrupted = errors.New("healthcheck log corrupted")
 )
diff --git a/libpod/healthcheck.go b/libpod/healthcheck.go
index ba429547673..820151408f9 100644
--- a/libpod/healthcheck.go
+++ b/libpod/healthcheck.go
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/sirupsen/logrus"
 	"go.podman.io/podman/v6/libpod/define"
 	"go.podman.io/podman/v6/libpod/shutdown"
+	"go.podman.io/storage/pkg/ioutils"
 	"golang.org/x/sys/unix"
 )
 
@@ -351,7 +352,11 @@ func newHealthCheckLog(start, end time.Time, exitCode int, log string) define.He
 func (c *Container) updateHealthStatus(status string) error {
 	healthCheck, err := c.readHealthCheckLog()
 	if err != nil {
-		return err
+		// If the healthcheck log is corrupted, overwrite it with a new result.
+		if !errors.Is(err, define.ErrHealthCheckLogCorrupted) {
+			return err
+		}
+		logrus.Warnf("Failed to read healthcheck log for %s: %v", c.ID(), err)
 	}
 	healthCheck.Status = status
 	return c.writeHealthCheckLog(healthCheck)
@@ -364,7 +369,8 @@ func (c *Container) isUnhealthy() (bool, error) {
 	}
 	healthCheck, err := c.readHealthCheckLog()
 	if err != nil {
-		return false, err
+		// If the state cannot be determined from the log, treat it as unhealthy.
+		return true, err
 	}
 	return healthCheck.Status == define.HealthCheckUnhealthy, nil
 }
@@ -374,7 +380,11 @@ func (c *Container) isUnhealthy() (bool, error) {
 func (c *Container) updateHealthCheckLog(hcl define.HealthCheckLog, hcResult define.HealthCheckStatus, inStartPeriod bool) (define.HealthCheckResults, error) {
 	healthCheck, err := c.readHealthCheckLog()
 	if err != nil {
-		return define.HealthCheckResults{}, err
+		// If the log is corrupted, use an empty result and eventually overwrite it.
+		if !errors.Is(err, define.ErrHealthCheckLogCorrupted) {
+			return healthCheck, err
+		}
+		logrus.Warnf("Failed to read healthcheck log for %s: %v", c.ID(), err)
 	}
 	if hcl.ExitCode == 0 {
 		//	set status to healthy, reset failing state to 0
@@ -402,12 +412,12 @@ func (c *Container) updateHealthCheckLog(hcl define.HealthCheckLog, hcResult def
 	return healthCheck, c.writeHealthCheckLog(healthCheck)
 }
 
-func (c *Container) witeToFileHealthCheckResults(path string, result define.HealthCheckResults) error {
+func (c *Container) writeToFileHealthCheckResults(path string, result define.HealthCheckResults) error {
 	newResults, err := json.Marshal(result)
 	if err != nil {
 		return fmt.Errorf("unable to marshall healthchecks for writing: %w", err)
 	}
-	return os.WriteFile(path, newResults, 0o700)
+	return ioutils.AtomicWriteFile(path, newResults, 0o700)
 }
 
 func (c *Container) getHealthCheckLogDestination() string {
@@ -422,7 +432,7 @@ func (c *Container) getHealthCheckLogDestination() string {
 }
 
 func (c *Container) writeHealthCheckLog(result define.HealthCheckResults) error {
-	return c.witeToFileHealthCheckResults(c.getHealthCheckLogDestination(), result)
+	return c.writeToFileHealthCheckResults(c.getHealthCheckLogDestination(), result)
 }
 
 // readHealthCheckLog read HealthCheck logs from the path or events_logger
@@ -432,27 +442,32 @@ func (c *Container) readHealthCheckLog() (define.HealthCheckResults, error) {
 }
 
 // readFromFileHealthCheckLog returns HealthCheck results by reading the container's
-// health check log file.  If the health check log file does not exist, then
-// an empty healthcheck struct is returned
+// health check log file. If the health check log file does not exist, then
+// an empty healthcheck struct is returned. If the health check log file
+// cannot be parsed, the error define.ErrHealthCheckLogCorrupted struct
+// is returned together with an empty define.HealthCheckResults.
 // The caller should lock the container before this function is called.
 func (c *Container) readFromFileHealthCheckLog(path string) (define.HealthCheckResults, error) {
 	var healthCheck define.HealthCheckResults
 	b, err := os.ReadFile(path)
 	if err != nil {
 		if errors.Is(err, fs.ErrNotExist) {
-			// If the file does not exists just return empty healthcheck and no error.
+			// If the file does not exist just return empty healthcheck and no error.
 			return healthCheck, nil
 		}
 		return healthCheck, fmt.Errorf("failed to read health check log file: %w", err)
 	}
+	// If the file is corrupted, return an empty healthcheck and wrapped ErrHealthCheckLogCorrupted.
 	if err := json.Unmarshal(b, &healthCheck); err != nil {
-		return healthCheck, fmt.Errorf("failed to unmarshal existing healthcheck results in %s: %w", path, err)
+		return healthCheck, fmt.Errorf("%w: %w", define.ErrHealthCheckLogCorrupted, err)
 	}
 	return healthCheck, nil
 }
 
 // HealthCheckStatus returns the current state of a container with a healthcheck.
 // Returns an empty string if no health check is defined for the container.
+// If the healthcheck log is corrupted, the error define.ErrHealthCheckLogCorrupted
+// is returned.
 func (c *Container) HealthCheckStatus() (string, error) {
 	if !c.batched {
 		c.lock.Lock()
@@ -474,7 +489,7 @@ func (c *Container) healthCheckStatus() (string, error) {
 
 	results, err := c.readHealthCheckLog()
 	if err != nil {
-		return "", fmt.Errorf("unable to get healthcheck log for %s: %w", c.ID(), err)
+		return define.HealthCheckUnhealthy, fmt.Errorf("unable to get healthcheck log for %s: %w", c.ID(), err)
 	}
 
 	return results.Status, nil
diff --git a/pkg/domain/filters/containers.go b/pkg/domain/filters/containers.go
index 273ece6604d..57bb518d26c 100644
--- a/pkg/domain/filters/containers.go
+++ b/pkg/domain/filters/containers.go
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ import (
 	"strings"
 	"time"
 
+	"github.com/sirupsen/logrus"
 	"go.podman.io/common/pkg/filters"
 	"go.podman.io/common/pkg/util"
 	"go.podman.io/podman/v6/libpod"
@@ -180,6 +181,7 @@ func GenerateContainerFilterFuncs(filter string, filterValues []string, r *libpo
 		return func(c *libpod.Container) bool {
 			hcStatus, err := c.HealthCheckStatus()
 			if err != nil {
+				logrus.Warnf("Healthcheck status for %v can't be determined, status won't be matched: %v", c.ID(), err)
 				return false
 			}
 			return slices.Contains(filterValues, hcStatus)
diff --git a/pkg/ps/ps.go b/pkg/ps/ps.go
index 3babb648951..32558562f20 100644
--- a/pkg/ps/ps.go
+++ b/pkg/ps/ps.go
@@ -229,7 +229,11 @@ func ListContainerBatch(rt *libpod.Runtime, ctr *libpod.Container, opts entities
 
 		healthStatus, err = c.HealthCheckStatus()
 		if err != nil {
-			return err
+			// Do not treat a corrupted healthcheck log as a hard error.
+			if !errors.Is(err, define.ErrHealthCheckLogCorrupted) {
+				return err
+			}
+			logrus.Warnf("Container %v health check log is corrupted: %v", c.ID(), err)
 		}
 
 		restartCount, err = c.RestartCount()
diff --git a/test/system/220-healthcheck.bats b/test/system/220-healthcheck.bats
index b2b3c90ab81..f215010a0ff 100644
--- a/test/system/220-healthcheck.bats
+++ b/test/system/220-healthcheck.bats
@@ -399,6 +399,46 @@ function _check_health_log {
 }
 
 
+@test "podman healthcheck - corrupted log file is handled gracefully" {
+    local TMP_DIR_HEALTHCHECK="$PODMAN_TMPDIR/healthcheck"
+    mkdir $TMP_DIR_HEALTHCHECK
+    local ctrname="c-h-$(safename)"
+    local msg="healthmsg-$(random_string)"
+    _create_container_with_health_log_settings $ctrname $msg "{{.Config.HealthLogDestination}}" "--health-log-destination $TMP_DIR_HEALTHCHECK" "$TMP_DIR_HEALTHCHECK" "HealthLogDestination"
+    cid="$output"
+
+    # First make sure there is an uncorrupted log.
+    run_podman healthcheck run $ctrname
+    is "$output" "" "output from 'podman healthcheck run'"
+
+    healthcheck_log_path="${TMP_DIR_HEALTHCHECK}/${cid}-healthcheck.log"
+    count=$(grep -co "$msg" $healthcheck_log_path)
+    assert "$count" -ge 1 "Number of matching health log messages"
+
+    # Corrupt the log file with invalid JSON.
+    echo "{invalid json{" > $healthcheck_log_path
+
+    # podman ps must not fail but should warn and report unhealthy.
+    run_podman 0+w ps --format '{{.Names}} {{.Status}}'
+    assert "$output" =~ "$ctrname" "podman ps must still list the container"
+    assert "$output" =~ "unhealthy" "corrupted log should be reported as unhealthy"
+    assert "$output" =~ "healthcheck log corrupted" "expected warning about corrupted log from ps"
+
+    # Verify that healthcheck run recovers by overwriting the corrupted
+    # log file with a new result while issuing a warning.
+    run_podman 0+w healthcheck run $ctrname
+    assert "$output" =~ "healthcheck log corrupted" "expected warning about corrupted log"
+
+    count=$(grep -co "$msg" $healthcheck_log_path)
+    assert "$count" -ge 1 "Number of matching health log messages after recovery"
+
+    # Run again to verify the warning is gone after the log was rewritten.
+    run_podman healthcheck run $ctrname
+    is "$output" "" "no warnings after log recovery"
+
+    run_podman rm -t 0 -f $ctrname
+}
+
 @test "podman healthcheck --health-log-destination journal" {
     skip_if_remote "We cannot read journalctl over remote."