Granada (Spain) will be the scene next March of the first trial against a pharmaceutical multinational, Boheringer Ingelheimdue to the filtration of personal and health data of the public health systems.
About five years ago I told you about the case of a worker from the Boehringer pharmaceutical company, Rafael Fernandezwhich has formally denounced the possible traffic of confidential patient data from health systems Extremaduran and Andalusian audiences.
I did it in the post Are pharmaceutical companies trafficking our sensitive health data?
There is news because the trial is going to take place, at last.
The head of Boehringer, Christian Boehringer and the Head of the Sanitary Inspection Service in the Ministry of Health of Extremadura, Laureano Marin Lingerie.
For the first time in Spain, the owner of one of the pharmaceutical multinationals most important in the world will appear in the Social Court number 2 of Granada on March 30.
The appointment of the head of Boehringer Ingelheim for “judicial confession”, the celebration of “acts of conciliation and trial in his case” and the “provision of all the means of proof that he tries to use” -as stated in the summons- are by the demand interposed in the social path by this brave worker.
The aforementioned company must answer for the alleged leak of documents and professional, personal and health data, especially protected by lawwhich would mean a clear violation of the fundamental right to privacy of numerous patients and public officials of the health system (Extremadura and Andalusia).
The appearance of the two responsible parties is a fundamental part of the process that the worker has kept open against his company since 2017 due to the continued reception in his corporate mail of images, documents, patient data and about 350 health professionals.
A fact that the worker immediately brought to the attention of senior managers from different departments of the pharmaceutical company as it was particularly sensitive data sent by business managers of your company.
Photo by Sora Shimazaki.
Despite the disclosure of the facts to all those responsible and also to other Institutions, the worker only received a response from the Delegate of Data Protection of the Andalusian Public Health System, a simple
We will act accordingly and that, in any case, if they deem it appropriate, they report the proceedings before the criminal jurisdiction.
And that’s what Fernández did!REPORT!
Therefore, criminal proceedings are not ruled out for the damages caused to the parties affected by the violation of personal and professional data and, specifically, to the company worker, who has suffered significant damage due to this circumstance. health problems since 2017.
Fernández worked at the aforementioned pharmaceutical company for 30 years. It all started when this employee, who worked as pharmaceutical lobbyist before the health administrations in Andalusia y Estremadura and was dedicated to trying to influence policies that could pose barriers to Boehringer’s interests, he began to receive “illegally extracted” documentation from his company.
They were internal documents and communications from the regional health services of those regions, screenshots of computer systems with data from patients and public officialswith medical records of patients, medical visas for drugs, etc.
He warned the health authorities and they filed a complaint in the courts and has continued to persevere in all processes.
We will continue to report on what happens in that trial because this worker seems to us an example of tenacity and clarity of ideas and values.