Gozo General Hospital Data Breach (2017)

An employee of Gozo General Hospital has been acquitted of offences under the Data Protection Act after allegedly pulling strings to get his estranged wife’s medical records exhibited in annulment proceedings. The male employee, whose name has been withheld by the court, was charged after his wife lodged a complaint through her legal counsel, wherein she alleged that the Gozo General Hospital (‘GGH’) breached her data protection rights when copies of her medical file revealing clinical notes made by the mental health medical professional who was dealing with her case, were presented by her husband before the Ecclesiastical Tribunal during the annulment proceedings. Magistrate Joe Mifsud, presiding the court of magistrates in Gozo, ruled that the woman had suffered a breach of her right to privacy, despite the man’s argument that the case fell within the parameters of a legal exception for the use of sensitive personal data.