Schumacher’s medical records stolen

GENEVA — Medical records believed to be those of Michael Schumacher have been offered for sale and officials are investigating the theft, his agent said, one week after the seven-time Formula 1 champion came out of a coma.

The German driver, who suffered severe head injuries in a ski accident in the French Alps in December, was transferred from Grenoble in France to a Swiss medical centre on June 16.

“For several days stolen documents and data have been offered for sale,” Sabine Kehm, managing director of Schumacher’s offices in Geneva, said in a statement on Monday.

“We cannot judge if these documents are authentic. However, the documents are clearly stolen. The theft has been reported. The authorities are involved.”

Criminal charges and damages would be sought against anyone involved in the illegal sale or publication of Schumacher’s confidential records, Kehm added.

“We expressly advise that both the purchase and the publication of such documents and data is forbidden. The contents of any medical files are totally private and confidential and must not made available to the public. We will therefore, in every single case, press for criminal charges and damages against any publication of the content or reference to the medical file,” she said.

Kehm did not disclose whether the notes were from Grenoble Hospital in France, where the former racing driver was taken following his accident on Dec 29, or from University Hospital Lausanne (CHUV) in western Switzerland, where he was transferred last week and is being treated in the neurological rehabilitation unit. A spokeswoman for the CHUV said she had “no comment” on the case.

The centre treated former Zairean dictator Mobutu Sese Seko for cancer in the mid-1990s and last year its forensic scientists analysed the remains of the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat for traces of poison.

Schumacher, the most successful F1 driver of all time, has had several brain operations since his accident in the resort of Meribel.

He earned universal acclaim for his uncommon and sometimes ruthless driving talent and retired from F1 in 2012 after garnering an unmatched seven world titles.

The 45-year-old has a home on the shores of Lake Geneva, where his wife Corinna is reported to have spent £10 million (S$21.2 million) on building a medical suite.

A source close to the Schumacher family said last week the sportsman was drifting “in and out of consciousness” and is still unable to talk — countering claims by German newspaper Bild that he was communicating and had responded to his wife’s voice. AGENCIES