A judge is investigating Albiol for having revealed medical data of a dead homeless person

BarcelonaA judge in Badalona is investigating the mayor of the municipality, the popular Xavier García Albiol, for having revealed during a plenary session medical data of a homeless man who had been treated at the Municipal Hospital and who, days later, had ended up dying. In a court order advanced by Eldiario.es and to which the ARA has had access, the judge considers that there are "clear indications" of a crime of discovery and disclosure of secrets by Albiol, after admitting to processing a complaint filed against him by the former mayor and councilor of Badalona Dolors Sabater (Guanyem).

The events occurred on July 1 of last year, in a plenary session in which several entities questioned the mayor for the lack of attention to the homeless man, who had lost his life after neighbors had warned for some time that his health was deteriorating. Albiol's response was the following: "As he went to the Badalona Hospital, ​​I have here [...] why that person died and I am going to read it to you verbatim. That was sent to me from the Hospital, eh." And then he released part of the diagnosis and tests that had been carried out on the man at the medical center.

Dismissing the criticisms that Sabater and other councillors made at that time for the violation of the patient's privacy, Albiol said: "If you think I am violating it [your privacy], report me. Whoever has to report me, let them report me." The leader of Guanyem did so and now the judge has opened an investigation into the mayor. In his resolution, the judge notes that the medical report in question contained "particularly sensitive data" and that its reading in the plenary session, which was broadcast live, "clearly affects the right to privacy of the relatives" of the deceased man.

Albiol's action took place in a tense plenary session in which residents denounced the closure of the municipal shelter for the homeless and the lack of attention from the council to this group, something for which Justice has already censured the Badalona government. "This was not caused by the government of Badalona, ​​​​and as mayor I will not accept that the City Council is accused of having killed a person," he said, and used the hospital document to try to disassociate the death of the homeless man from municipal management.

Beyond the crime that may arise, the judge considers that Albiol's decision also affects the "good functioning of the institutions." For the moment, he has ordered the Mossos to go to the Badalona Hospital to obtain a copy of the patient's report as well as the "access data" to the document, from its creation to its dissemination in the plenary session. He has also authorized them to intervene electronic devices and any "digital or physical content" that may be related to the facts investigated.

This is, however, the fourth legal case that Albiol faces, after the 2010 xenophobic pamphlet case, that of the alleged assault on a PSC advisor in 2022 and that of the installation of two antennas without permission during his first term (2011-2015). Until now, he has always been acquitted.