The Court of Seville has sentenced a doctor to a year and six months in prison and three years and three months of special disqualification for the exercise of his profession, for the crime of discovery and disclosure of secrets by a public official committed by accessing up to 17 times the medical history of a male former partner with whom he had a conflict, without any authorization and using the access keys of the Diraya system for electronic storage of medical records of his wife, a nurse manager at the Andalusian Health Service (SAS).
In a sentence issued on January 10 and reported by Europa Press, the First Section of the Court of Seville finds it proven that the accused, a medical professional employed by the Public Business Agency for Health in the Lower Guadalquivir at the time of the events and with no criminal record, acted during the period between February 24, 2016, and March 1, 2018, to «obtain data from the medical history» of a former partner, «due to a personal and economic conflict with him regarding a rehabilitation center» promoted between them.
According to the proven facts, the accused acted in this way to «obtain data from the medical history of his former partner, which could be of interest to him due to the conflict he had with him, and since he knew the access keys to the digital medical record – the DIRAYA – held by his wife, in her capacity as a nurse manager, who had not authorized him to use her keys or provided them to her husband, he proceeded to access the digital medical record» of his former partner, «aware that this violated his privacy and knowing that he could not do it without his authorization and without providing medical assistance.»
The sentence details up to 17 accesses by the accused to the medical history of his former partner, many of them in the early hours of the morning, adding that his wife, also accused in the case, «was unaware of these accesses made by her husband and became aware of the use of her keys when she was notified on January 23, 2019, of a disciplinary file (…) for unauthorized access to a user’s medical history; although the Southern Seville Health Management Area «suspended disciplinary proceedings until a final decision was made in the criminal proceedings, informing the Public Prosecutor of the facts.»
«CONVINCED» TO BLAME HERSELF
«As a result of the opening of the file, the accused told his wife that it was he who had accessed and she, convinced by her husband and the legal advisors she had at that time, in order to protect her husband fearing the possible negative repercussions that could arise if she told the truth with the complaint filed against him» the affected party «and believing that if she told the truth she could end up in prison, admitted to the facts, both in her statement as an investigated person before the Prosecutor’s Office and in the Court of Instruction number two of Lebrija, although subsequently, after consulting with a new lawyer, she denied any involvement in the events,» the sentence adds.
The judicial resolution also highlights that the accused, «before the oral trial, deposited in the court’s consignment account, in his name and in that of his wife, the amount of 15,000 euros to satisfy the possible damages resulting from his conduct.»
In this case, the First Section of the Court sentences the accused to a year and six months in prison for the crime of discovery and disclosure of secrets by a public official with the mitigating circumstance of reparation of the damage, imposing a fine of 10,480 euros, three years and three months of special disqualification to work as a doctor in the Andalusian Health Service or any other medical service, public or private, that has access to the Diraya system, and the obligation to compensate his former partner with 15,000 euros; while his wife is acquitted of all charges against her.
