Helsinki hospital district employee receives suspended sentence for unlawfully accessing personal data

A Helsinki District Court has sentenced a Helsinki University Hospital District (HUS) employee to an eight-month suspended prison term for illegally accessing the personal records of over 140 individuals between 2019 and 2023, Yle reports.

The employee, who worked in HUS billing services, was found to have viewed the personal information of 142 people without authorisation. The court also ordered the defendant to pay compensation to affected individuals who filed claims.

According to the ruling, the employee accessed population register data—including names, addresses, and family relationships—as well as patient records for 11 individuals. In nine of those cases, the employee obtained details about which HUS unit the person had received treatment from. The court confirmed that no detailed medical records were accessed.

HUS terminated the employee’s contract in spring 2023 after the misconduct came to light. The verdict is not yet legally binding.

This follows previous cases at HUS involving unauthorised data access. In 2023, a district court ruled on a separate incident where a practical nurse had improperly retrieved patient records.