The Public Prosecution Service (OM) suspects a woman from Drenthe of attempted murder or aggravated assault on her 3-year-old son. The child was admitted in critical condition to the Martini Hospital in Groningen on the night of December 31, 2020 to January 1, 2021. The child was under the influence of the drug GHB.
This became apparent today during a session in Assen, at which the Public Prosecution Service of the hospital demands the medical file of this child. It wants to investigate whether the mother played a role in this incident. For that reason, the examining magistrate (investigating judge) had already seized that file. The hospital objects.
There was a bottle of GHB in the mother’s bedroom. The mother told the officers that she did not recognize the bottle, let alone that she knew how it ended up in her bedroom. Witnesses reported that the mother sometimes used drugs, including GHB. That was a reason for the Public Prosecution Service to start a criminal investigation. A forensic doctor must investigate, based on the child’s medical file, what exactly happened that night. This is necessary to be able to determine whether the mother is to blame and to what extent.
Medical data
The Martini Hospital invokes the right of nondisclosure. “Patients admitted to or treated in hospital should be able to rely on their medical information being handled securely,” said a hospital spokesperson. According to him, there is no need to break the right of nondisclosure (not having to provide information on the basis of an appeal). In addition, the Safe Home advice and reporting center has been deployed and that organization has all the information about that family, including the child’s medical data.
According to the Public Prosecution Service, Safe Home is very economical in providing the necessary information. In addition, the public prosecutor believes that the doctor should be able to draw on the source. “In the context of establishing the truth, the doctor must be able to investigate points such as the endangerment, the cause of the child’s condition and when the drug was taken,” the prosecutor said. The hospital believes that the Public Prosecution Service is only out to prosecute the mother, but according to the Public Prosecution Service, that is not the case. “That is exactly what the investigation is necessary for,” said the public prosecutor.
The court will decide in two weeks whether the objection of the Martini Hospital is justified or not.