And this the problem.

I'm all for the family requiring and requesting privacy during this time. However the wall of silence surrounding this has done nothing other than invite all and sundry to come out with their personal pet theories regarding Schumacher's current condition.

Basically it's laid possibly the most fertile field ever for the tin foil hat brigade and the conspiracy theory knobheads to crawl out from under the rocks and really go for it with their absurd comments and speculations.

A little bit of information would go a long way to prevent all of this speculation and misinformation. The world is simply not going to forget about arguably the most famous and successful racing driver ever.

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...allegedly.

People would probably speculate, no matter how much information the family put out. A person's medical condition is usually a private matter and they've already said he's out of a coma and receiving treatment. They probably want to protect his dignity as much as anything else.

I haven't really been following this and maybe there are lots of doctors speculating, but wonder if that ex F1 doctor is the main source of the speculation and if he might have an axe to grind or a need to puff himself up on account of being ex.

Schuee's medical files have apparently been stolen, surly this cannot be true?

why not? sure they are worth a lot of money to a tabloid paper

lowly paid hospital employee seems they laying around and pound signs flash before his eyes.

Not sure if they genuine or not, but unfortunately it wouldn't surprise me that someone's stolen the info to sell to the likes of the Mirror et al.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-27988747

Though what sort of news story they could make out of all the technical medical info I don't know. I would hope no reputable doctor would review/comment on this info knowing that it's been stolen.

And if the likes of the Mirror, etc, try to claim it's in the "public interest" to publish it then the newspaper should be shut down permanently.

Might be worth it if it finally gets rid of them!

Rumours around, that the stolen medical files have been tracked back to REGA. Not good!

http://www.nzz.ch/panorama/ungluecks...det-1.18338439

Arrested suspect in medical info leak case found dead in cell. Suicide assumed.

http://www.tagesanzeiger.ch/panorama...story/25089905

Schumacher's accident was tragic enough without this.
What a waste of another talented life.

Didn't even know they'd arrested someone. Where's all these nosy reporters when you want one.

In the US this sort of violation of "HIPAA; Health Insurance Portability Accountability Act" would net the perpetrator 250,000 USD in fines, and 10 years in prison, considering the intentional sharing of protected info, and whether money exchanged hands. Each level of culpability is a felony.

What would the punishment be here?

Hanging in prison

If I get it right max. CHF 10k
Art. 35 Federal Act on Data Protection
http://www.admin.ch/opc/en/classifie...index.html#a35
and Art. 106 Swiss Criminal Code
http://www.admin.ch/opc/en/classifie...ndex.html#a106

And Art. 321 may also apply http://www.admin.ch/opc/en/classifie...ndex.html#a321
Then it would be up to 3 years of prison.

Probably a lot less. Didn't matter to him, apparently.
REGA is (more or less) a family, AFAIK. A work-environment, where basically everybody trusts each other with his own life.
And he failed that trust. I believe, he didn't want to face that.
Plus, the first night in prison for someone used to living in freedom is not a nice one (apparently, depending on the situation and mental state).

As the report says, the investigation will now be closed.
For REGA, this is the best possible outcome (well, the least bad).

He must have believed that they couldn't track him down and then let common sense go out of the window.

Didn't use TOR, chained open proxies, 3rd-party VPN-services from 3rd-world countries....

Sorry, but your post indicates lack of knowledge and an inherent lack of understanding of the gravity as to what has just happened. Let's put it down to "I have to write something on the internet right now-itis" and let it be.

I do know REGA and admire their professionalism and fine standing in the airborne repatriation and rescue service domain. But admin staff and 95% of their employees are just like you and me, office workers. For REGA, I can only imagine that this is the worst possible outcome.

He was never accused of a crime.
He worked at REGA.

I bet he'd have gotten away with a (big) wrist-slap (and no job, of course).

After a bit of a cool-down, he'd have found some other job.
Probably only half as well paid as his current one, but still.

But I really wonder what possessed him to copy that file.
And offer it around to the bottom-of-the-barrel yello-press.

Maybe true.
I don't know anybody at REGA, just read an interview or two with staff.

I beg to differ.
A law suit might have brought a lot of unpleasant details to light.
REGA is (AFAIK) almost entirely financed by donations of various kinds.
Anything that keeps them out of the news in this case will help them.
The worst possible thing would have been a drawn out law-suit, with daily headlines on the front-page.
Now, they have one bad headline and one mentioning on the obituaries.

Don't get me wrong, I feel very sorry for the guy (even if he was stupid enough to not even realize he didn't have the skillz to pull this through).

But IMO, for REGA it's much better this way.

So, let me get this straight. You're saying that this "family" (to use your term) would rather have their friend and colleague commit suicide than them face a bit of hassle in the press? You don't see that as a little crass?

From a purely corporate / cynical viewpoint it is hard to argue against it being the best outcome for REGA. Corporations don't have feelings or sentiments.

For his colleagues (and family, friends etc) it is of course a tragedy. The only slight upside for his colleagues are that it does indeed stop massive litigation and bad publicity, so they may still get enough donations to keep their jobs.

Crass? Maybe. That's the way the world works though. You aren't really splitting the company and the people who work for the company in your accusation.

Too many of you posting here must have a lump of concrete where your hearts are meant to be. Let's just put this into context and bring some reality into this. A man working at REGA concocted this really stupid and potentially criminally insane idea to sell some of Schumacher's medical records to a newspaper for a few thousand bucks. He might have thought that this was a good or even humorous idea at the time, but when the net started closing in on him, the gravity of the situation started to shatter his daily life.

REGA was only the backdrop for what happened next. Yes, the employee had access to personal files, but many people have access to a host of confidential and potentially harmful data that we could leak to the public if they wanted to. I see REGA as nothing more than an unfortunate bystander to what happened next. Police arrest the man who wanted to sell the files for questioning. He's locked up pending further investigation and to see if there are any charges to be answered to.

Imagine this for a moment, a white collar worker most probably without any previous record (my speculation) is now the center of a scandal and the biggest mess up of his life. His thoughts are black, very black. The seriousness of what he considered to be a "frivolous act" is looking back at him from the 4 walls of his cell. His mind races, his job over. The envisaged shame and ridicule from his family, peers and loved ones gnawing at his conscience.

He snaps. He simply can't accept the consequences of what he has done. Adrenaline races and his mind and body enter severe de-stress. Rational thought has left his mind. It's the middle of the night and he can't focus his thoughts on anything other than what is happening in the moment. There is no peace, there is no sleep, just black. He chooses dark over life to avoid the embarrassment.

No, I don't think that anyone sees this as the "best outcome". A human life extinguished because of mental anxiety, because of a one stupidly conceived act that might have cost him a 3 month sentence and a few thousand buck fine.

Never underestimate the power of life and the love we should all hold in our hearts when needless lives are lost. Because we are humans.

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Crash your karma into little bits of happiness