Appeal court doubles sentence for nurse who accessed patient records

Finland’s Vaasa Court of Appeal has doubled the suspended prison sentence for a nursing assistant who accessed patient records without permission, Yle reported. The court also ordered her to pay 40 day-fines, amounting to 1,440 euros.

The Central Finland District Court had sentenced the woman to four months’ suspended imprisonment and ordered her to pay more than 37,000 euros in compensation. The appeal court increased the sentence to eight months.

The district court found that the nurse had accessed the records of 186 patients in the Central Finland wellbeing services county between April 2022 and June 2023. The appeal court treated the conduct as one crime rather than several separate offences and put the final number of affected people at 184, after some prosecutors dropped charges.

The court said the scale and duration of the offence showed clear disregard for people’s privacy. It also noted that the records included sensitive patient and health information, as well as personal details about children.

The nurse was 21 at the time and had no previous criminal record. She worked at Nova Hospital and Kyllö Hospital in Jyväskylä during the period covered by the case.

The appeal court’s ruling is not final. An application for leave to appeal to the Supreme Court can be filed by November 23.