F1 racing ace Michael Schumacher's medical records were pinched Michael Schumacher's stolen "medical records" are being offered for sale. The management team of the retired motor racing legend has confirmed the theft of files and warned that either the purchase or publication of the documents would provoke both a criminal complaint and a lawsuit. Schumacher left Grenoble Hospital last …
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How often do they think that medical record "information" is passed to third parties? whether in France/Switzerland, or in the UK.
Having had an accident and visited A&E I received phone calls from a couple of "accident lawyers" who strangely thought I may be in need of their services, despite nobody else being informed of said event. Data protection doesn't exist
I am willing to bet that medical records are not routinely passed to accident lawyers in the UK.
However, I am pretty sure they are passed by insurance companies, tow trucks, coachworks, garages etc.
If you are sure that it was someone in the hospital (in the UK) then I recommend you contact the ICO and Health Care Trust immediately to pursue it and catch the culprit.
> I received phone calls from a couple of "accident lawyers" who strangely thought I may be in need of their services
I had a call from a company asking about an accident that I'd had within the last three years. I politely asked for details of said accident "to make sure you are legit and not ambulance chasing scum" at which point I got 10 seconds of vague prevarication from the guy before his supervisor hung up on me. They have not phoned back.
I am 90% sure that they don't know you have had an accident and are just playing the numbers.
In France, yes. Medical secrecy is a big thing:
- Article L1100-4 of the Public Health Code: Anyone taken in charge by a professional, establishment, health network or any other organisation participating in prevention and healthcare has the right to the respect of their private life and secret of information that concerns them". (There are derogations about communicating to family and to other healthcare professionals on a need to know basis).
-Article R4127-4 of the Public Health Code: Professional Secrecy instituted in the interests of patients is imposed to all doctors in conditions according with the law"
- Article 226-16 of the Penal Code: "The revelation secret information that is in their possession by their state or profession or by reason of a temporary mission is punished by one year in prison and 15000 euros fine"
If a lawyer starts calling you up following an accident in France, you can sue the lawyer and lodge a complaint about how they got their hands on your details...
What value do these records have? The patient is retired from their sport (so no value for competitors) and has been released and recovering normally (so no use to the media to be first to report his death or complications).
The only people I can think that would actually buy these are overly obsessed fans and scummy tabloid writers.
The value of the records is this happened to a well known person and there will be more of an effort made to prevent this sort of thing in the future. That effort may be wholly useless and needlessly expensive, but if the records in question were yours nobody would do a damn thing.
Otherwise, I can't see the records being of any value whatsoever. Perhaps if the records showed he was actually Michelle Schumacher some tabloid would find the records interesting enough to purchase, just for 'scandal' value. But even if he was still driving I don't think other teams would find any value there. There's nothing in anyone's medical records that would give someone an advantage that wouldn't equate to murder if the effects began to express while he was driving. If you're willing to do that it's cheaper, easier and far less likely to cause collateral damage (maybe even to your own team) to just shoot him in the face.
He's been out of the medical definition of a coma since Sabine Kehm said as much in April, he had opened his eyes and was exhibiting short periods of apparent consciousness.
What that means for his future is unclear. Sadly Gary Hartstein, who is a realist (and a neurologist), doesn't think that his chances are very good. I wish it were otherwise but only time will tell.
The entire UK population's stolen "medical records" are being offered for sale. The management team of the rebranded National Health and Information Service has confirmed the theft of files and warned that neither the purchase nor publication of the documents would provoke a criminal complaint or a lawsuit.
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