Snooping on medical records – £15,000 damages award

The expert data team here at Your Lawyers – The Data Leak Lawyers – was successful in securing a £15,000 damages pay-out that was awarded to our client who was the victim of someone snooping on medical records.

This kind of data breach is a serious and often malicious invasion of privacy that must not go unpunished. The UK’s data regulator, the ICO, can issue fines and prosecutions arising from such incidents, but it is up to us as lawyers to represent victims in civil compensation matters.

The award in this case of £15,000 in compensation for damages is a substantial one that reflects the impact that our client suffered as a result of what happened.

£15,000 compensation pay-out for victim of snooping on medical records

We are pleased to have secured a £15,000 compensation pay-out for a client of ours who was the unfortunate victim of somebody snooping on medical records. Whilst we cannot go into the finer details of the incident in question, the impact on our client was substantial, given the context of the individual snooping on medical records and how this had an impact on them.

As we have said before, serious medical data breach compensation cases can settle for substantial amounts given the particularly sensitive nature of the information that can be affected. This settlement is an example of the substantial impact that can arise when someone has suffered due to the misuse or exposure of their sensitive healthcare information.

Medical information can be classed as “special category” data in accordance with the GDPR which can afford it additional protection owing to how sensitive it can be.

ICO prosecutions

The UK’s data watchdog, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), has had to issue a number of prosecutions as a result of healthcare employees snooping on medical records over several years. More often than not, the perpetrator is someone who knows the victim and has accessed healthcare information out of curiosity or for malicious reasons.

Ultimately, there is absolutely no excuse whatsoever for anyone to engage in any behaviour that can constitute a breach of the GDPR. Accessing medical information without appropriate authority or reason to do so is a significant invasion of privacy, and it is right that the ICO issues criminal prosecutions against individuals, as well as levying fines and charges.

The importance of our work

Until we can reach a point where there is much better data protection in all circumstances, the importance of our work continues to be prevalent in the evolving digital era. Not only that, but we appreciate and understand the significance of the distress that can be suffered by victims of a data breach. This is why our work helping people to access some form of justice by way of a compensation pay-out is important.

We have already recovered over £1m in damages for mostly individual data clients as leading experts in this niche and complex area of law. We will continue to fight for people’s rights when they have been wronged in a privacy setting, pursuing civil matters for compensation.

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