Here in America, I think people have a healthy sense of privacy and most Americans have a sense of “that’s not any of my business.” Like, we have a healthy curiosity (sometimes an unhealthy curiosity), but we generally believe that everyone has a right to privacy, especially medical privacy. There are also laws governing who can access medical records. We have HIPAA and the UK has similar regulations about private data. That being said, as an American, it’s unthinkable to me that someone like the Princess of Wales could have major abdominal surgery and no one saw her come in or out of the hospital and no one in the hospital leaked anything about her two-week hospital stay. Like, in America, someone would have sold some info about a VIP. A nurse, a tech, hell even a doctor, they would have sold some info to TMZ or made a TikTok for clout or something. The thing is, it’s the same way in the UK – VIPs are constantly having their medical information sold out in the press. It’s been more than a month and a half since Kate left the London Clinic (allegedly) and we still haven’t heard one thing about her mysterious hospital stay. Apparently, a staff member at the London Clinic did try to access Kate’s records though!!
The world renowned hospital where the Princess of Wales was treated has launched an investigation over claims staff attempted to access her private medical records. Bosses have launched a probe into the claims Kate’s confidentiality was breached while she was a patient in The London Clinic in January. At least one member of staff was said to have been caught trying to access the 42-year-old’s notes. The allegations has sent shock waves through the hospital in Marylebone, Central London, which has a reputation for discreetly treating of the royal family, former presidents, PMs and celebrities.
One insider revealed: “This is a major security breach and incredibly damaging for the hospital, given its unblemished reputation for treating members of the Royal Family. Senior hospital bosses contacted Kensington Palace immediately after the incident was brought to their attention and assured the palace there would be a full investigation. The whole medical staff have been left utterly shocked and distraught over the allegations and were very hurt that a trusted colleague could have allegedly been responsible for such a breach of trust and ethics.”
The probe comes after comes as video and pictures emerged this week of Kate and Prince William at a farm shop in Windsor, amid conspiracy theories being churned out by internet trolls about her absence since having an abdominal operation. It is a criminal offence for any staff in an NHS or private healthcare setting to access the medical records of a patient without the consent of the organisation’s data controller. The Metropolitan Police did not confirm whether it had been informed of the allegations.
The London clinic refused to comment on the claims but said: “We firmly believe that all our patients, no matter their status, deserve total privacy and confidentiality regarding their medical information.” The hospital informed the Palace of the alleged breach as soon as it was discovered, sources said. Kensington Palace said: “This is a matter for The London Clinic.”
Kate is understood to have been made aware of the alleged incident. Kate, who has been recovering at home in Windsor since she was discharged from the hospital on January 29 after 13 nights there, has chosen not to reveal the reason she was admitted.
Again, I know it’s none of my business and Kate has the right to medical privacy, the same as anyone else. But I would absolutely be curious to learn the exact dates of when she was checked in and how many times William visited her, because I get the feeling people told a lot of lies about both of those subjects. I would assume, given the nature of the British press, that the person who tried to access Kate’s records was probably going to sell the information to one of the tabloids. Don’t you think? Perhaps one of the tabloids even contacted the person and asked him or her to specifically access Kate’s records.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.
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- Britain’s Kate, the Princess of Wales centre, gestures, during a visit to the Royal Surrey County Hospital’s maternity unit, in Guilford, England, Wednesday, Oct. 5, 2022.,Image: 728319805, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: -, Model Release: no, Credit line: Alastair Grant / Avalon
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- HRH Catherine – The Princess of Wales makes a visit to Evelina London Children’s Hospital, London, England, UK on Tuesday 5 December, 2023 where she opened Evelina London’s new Children’s Day Surgery Unit.,Image: 826935000, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: Please credit photographer and agency when publishing as Justin Ng/UPPA/Avalon., Model Release: no, Credit line: Justin Ng / Avalon
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- Prince William and Catherine Princess of Wales open the new Royal Liverpool University Hospital during a visit to Merseyside. Featuring: Catherine Princess Of Wales Where: Liverpool, England, United Kingdom When: 12 Jan 2023 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages.com/Cover Images **North America Rights Only**
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- The Princess of Wales at the official opening of the Evelina London Children’s Day Surgery Unit at London’s Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospital Featuring: Catherine, Princess of Wales Where: London, United Kingdom When: 05 Dec 2023 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- The Princess of Wales at the official opening of the Evelina London Children’s Day Surgery Unit at London’s Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospital Featuring: Catherine, Princess of Wales Where: London, United Kingdom When: 05 Dec 2023 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- The Princess of Wales during a visit to officially open the Evelina London Children’s Day Surgery Unit at London’s Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospital Featuring: Catherine, Princess of Wales Where: London, United Kingdom When: 05 Dec 2023 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- Catherine, Princess of Wales, visits the Evelina Children’s Hospital and officially opens their new Day Surgery Unit Featuring: Catherine, Princess of Wales Where: London, United Kingbom When: 05 Dec 2023 Credit: John Rainford/Cover Images **NOT AVAILABLE FOR PUBLICATION IN THE UK**
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- Catherine, Princess of Wales, visits the Evelina Children’s Hospital and officially opens their new Day Surgery Unit Featuring: Catherine, Princess of Wales Where: London, United Kingbom When: 05 Dec 2023 Credit: John Rainford/Cover Images **NOT AVAILABLE FOR PUBLICATION IN THE UK**
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- The Prince of Wales (left) drives away from the London Clinic, in central London, where the Princess of Wales is recovering after undergoing successful abdominal surgery. She was admitted to The London Clinic on Tuesday for the planned procedure Featuring: William, Prince Of Wales Where: London, United Kingdom When: 18 Jan 2024 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
Great way to deflect from yesterday’s video of not-Kate and not-William. Or any questions about why the not-Kate video was released with a 24 hr delay.
💯🎯
Do you think that a hospital would be willing to risk their reputation for WandK? I don’t know why a hospital would lie about that. But given all the other lies/cover ups/conspiracies I guess anything is possible.
@Harla A Brazen Hussy, the story is probably real, but it is a rota exclusive. So, they were fed with this news by the palace. It isn’t just happened or they just got informed. That is why it looks like deflection.
I think the story is real, but someone has been sitting on it for a while now. It says this happened back in January and KP was made aware but the papers run the story during the midst of Fake-Kategate? It seems a way to take the focus off the video and send sympathy towards Kate.
I don’t think this is bad for the hospital’s reputation. Sounds more lile they are bragging about how safe Kate’s file is, because they caught the person before they could access anything.
But it is an odd story. The source said the breach occurred while she was in the hospital, not afterward. Yet the way it’s being reported now it makes it seem as though it just happened. And if it hasn’t been reported to the police, well then, how does the press know about it? And again, why now & not earlier?
Oh, I see I said the same as others. Another odd thing–you have to ask for permission before you can access a patient’s files? So every time the doc comes on shift, prior to visiting you in your room & reading your notes, they’ve got to take time out to ask some administrative person first? What if they’re not on shift yet?
The story says the records were accessed by an employee but nothing else. It is more than likely that KP was advised of this in January because the hospital would have to let the patient know. This is usually an internal investigation handled by the hospital because it deals with employees.
KP sat on this nothing burger because they are desperate to deflect and seek pity.
It’s not just a reputational issue. Under UK data protection law the hospital at the most senior level is liable for loss or theft of a patients medical data Also any UK media outlet publishing medical data would be breaching Data Protection legislation. It would be taken very seriously by the Authorities. Kate has the same rights as anyone to have her medical data protected. Also the hospital cannot say whether or not she was treated by them.
The article says “attempted” but I wonder if the employee did actually access them and this is damage control for the hospital? Because if the person was caught before he got the records, why make this statement at all?
ETA: I just remembered that back in December, the Fail had an article about how hackers had targeted this hospital and were threatening to release all of the RF’s medical records. This would have been before even the announcement that she had surgery, so maybe she was already being treated some ongoing issue that blew up into something much worse?
I agree that what procedure she had maybe shouldn’t be exposed. But Kensington Palace said themselves that she was in the hospital. So would it be a breach if a reporter asked someone in the hospital to verify if she was there? They wouldn’t be giving new information. Just saying if what the palace said was true or not.
Tinfoil tiara theory, maybe that’s how the Sun and TMZ got the fake Kate video exclusive? If they were the ones that bought the medical records leak, then they could have made a deal with KP to trot out “Kate” in exchange for not publishing it. We absolutely know KP will trade stories with the tabloids to cover up their secrets, and KP can’t produce the real Kate, which I’m sure the Sun and TMZ would prefer.
I don’t actually think this but definitely could be possible, in which case expect more future TMZ exclusives.
Smart&Messy, I could see that. These people can’t cook spaghetti , so nothing sticks to the wall and it freaks them out.
Pinkosaurus, That actually makes a lot of sense. Murdoch is an expert in those tactics.
No matter how much of a liar K is, going after her medical records is just plain wrong. If that gets okayed, then you create a situation where it’s okay for other people.
Surely just the money they paid to the video owner got the video, but maybe the deal was last night’s BBC announcement that KP confirmed the video was real is the target of negotiation.
Oh, that’s it. Old story resurrected now, then? Huh.
Wait, this is supposed to be in response to @Zapp Brannigan below.
Deflection is what they do and they have probably had this info for awhile and decided to let it be known now.
Totally agree, it’s a non-story… just adding content and deflecting from many, more interesting questions.
A whole lot of propaganda trying to get sympathy back for Kate and it seems to be working.
Let’s play the semantics game: was it “attempted” or was it an actual “major breach”? Because the latter implies unauthorized access was a success, and that someone has information that they might sell or have already sold (to TMZ, Russia, China, whomever)
Is this related to the hack of her medical records that was reported before Christmas, WTAF is going on in the palaces.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/royals/article-12818329/Hackers-targeted-private-hospital-treated-Kate-Middleton-threatening-release-Royal-Familys-private-medical-information.html
I think this is very close to being right on the money. It wasn’t an issue for the RF until it was. So now they are trying to do damage control. I think she either wasn’t there, OR she was and this is their jump ahead of any disclosure, so this is the “cover story’.
@Zapp, I’m so glad you posted the link because I just referred to it upthread. For some reason I believe the two are likely connected.
Maybe they claimed “hackers” at first to protect the hospital’s reputation? The Fail story was published in early December, way before KP announced Kate’s surgery, but she might have been being treated for an ongoing condition that suddenly got much worse?
The December hack was at a different hospital- the King Edward hospital
@Zapp Brannigan – coming out at this time as a means of deflection of the story re the fake sighting of Kate & William
Hackers threatened to get her digital records late last year. This sounds like a random nurse strolling around the halls and seeing if she could take a peek…?
I agree, they way they put it sounds like someone on staff tried to guess the password and failed more than three times or something.
Strolling the halls to see if she was actually there.
It’s definitely weird. I work in healthcare and a file like hers would be locked down hard, and there are HIPAA records of every click, every single thing you do in every file, so it’s very easy to see if anyone is where they shouldn’t be. Every program I’ve worked in actually has a “break glass” protocol to access files that aren’t specifically yours, where you have to give a reason for requesting access and often a link to a supervisor giving permission before you get in.
So guaranteed they knew about this quickly. I have no doubt that people were interested but I doubt someone was able to get in in a major way but if they were, they’ll be fired and fined a huge amount. It’s like $1 million for a HIPAA breach here, idk about the UK.
This article isn’t clear about whether the attempt was successful or not. It’s quite possible that someone was trying to determine if she was actually there or not. If she wasn’t ever there, which I suspect, there were no records to access.
She’s in Montreux.
@Agnes I’m with you one hundred percent.
No doubt someone saw the overwhelming international interest in the story and decided to try for a big payday. I’d guess they weren’t around Kate while she was there though. They could’ve just anonymously sold any gossip from what they saw. That’d be fireable but now they’re probably going to jail,
@BQM, I agree. Because the person who got the records (or tried to) had to know they’d be found out and fired, but they took the chance that the $$ received for them was enough that it was worth the risk.
When you work in healthcare in the US, you have to be signed in with your employee ID to access anyone’s electronic medical record, so there is a record of every patient’s info you access. I am sure with someone as famous as Kate, there is an actual alert every time there is an attempt to access her medical record.
Exactly, it sounds like someone on staff tried and failed and the system sends an alert with the person’s id. The hospital could have handled it intetnally but it got leaked for some reason. I don’t think it’s such huge news unless it was an outside hacking attempt.
Thank you Jessica! There’s no “guessing passwords” for every chart because that’s not how it’s setup. They know exactly who has viewed every chart. There are some charts of well known (either public figures or privately influential) people, wherein you will get a popup informing you that you are about to “break the glass” and inquires if you’re sure you want to. Unless you’re directly caring for that person, you do Not break that glass. Those files will trigger an immediate alert throughout the system. It’s one of many ways how the US EMR safeguards PHI. I’m positive that the land of royals and aristocrats has something similar in place.
To add to what Jessica is saying in the US, medical records are also limited access by job code and department. So a nurse (for example) on the orthopedic floor would not have access to patients records who have had abdominal surgery. If that nurse was asked to work on another floor, a temporary access can be granted for the shift. My last job was in a special department and I had to sometimes fight to get access to outpatient records that I needed. IT departments in healthcare are large and available 24/7 so worrying about a doctor having to get permission to access every patients record is not something that would happen.
I actually think they are rehashing a story from 2023. I won’t click on their link but maybe others have more info than me.
I think so, too. Check out the link from @Zapp Brannigan above. There was a bitcoin ransom demand.
I think that this story is linked to the information that broke on a Spanish website about Kate being put in an induced coma.
I now doubt anything and everything they say or claim. To me, this is a case of distract distract distract from the fact that the wheels have come off the bus of their little fake buy a load of bread outing. It seems pretty clear that that’s not Keen in that video (she’s a dead ringer for Gabriella M D). KP won’t confirm it’s them, there’s no real proof of when it was made and has the guy who filmed it now tried to retract it? I’m not sure if that was real information but even if not, he’s a social media person which claims he can ‘make things go viral.’
And that’s not even to mention a bunch of Keen’s old photos now being tagged as fake.
Nothing is what it seems with Huevo Pegs the III and his Missing Button. So it’s a little too convenient that we suddenly – months after the alleged hospital stay – get this story.
Who’s Gabriella M D?
Munro Dunkley. Looks EXACTLY like the woman in the video.
@SussexWatcher, to me, the most telling thing about the video is that the RF didn’t force UK press to ignore it, like they did with the CarolE photo. That makes it seem as if it was definitely staged by KP, but they’re too stupid to realize that they can no longer fool the peasants so easily, and that people worldwide would now be poring over every detail.
I absolutely believe the tabloids sought out someone and offered a huge payday and now they’re likely going to lose their job and not be able to get rehired and the tabloid journalist sure as shit isn’t picking up their phone.
Confirms she actually was at the London Clinic at least 🤷♀️
I don’t see how it confirms she was there since they didn’t succeed in accessing anything. If anything it makes me more likely to think she wasn’t there, otherwise someone could have just reported on what they heard through the staff grapevine or lingered outside a hallway or snapped a sneaky photo of her coming or going.
I guess the reason I assumed she had records there was that the hospital would 100% protect their reputation if these statements weren’t true.
“We can confirm senior management staff have not been in contact with Kensington Palace and there was no breach of records or privacy”.
Me typing “Kate Middleton” into my database at work isn’t a breach of privacy if she has no records there.
Sas, please don’t consider a career as a criminal lol
Mens Rea. Guilty mind.
Yes, it’s illegal to knowingly break the law (in this case patient confidentiality) whether you succeed or not.
Whether she was actually there or not, trying to break her right to privacy, especially the princess of wales (!!) yes, could get you into a a heap of trouble.
Don’t type her name in your system 😦
The article is dated December 2, 2023, so she hadn’t even been admitted by then. But maybe someone at the hospital *knew* that something big was coming? That would validate the “planned” part of their initial statement— but I never totally believed that first statement anyway, especially since they’d just announced a trip K was going on, which contradicts the “planned” part.
Omg I feel like my brain is in knots trying to figure this out 😓
It doesn’t confirm anything of the sort.
It just says someone tried to access her files. Doesn’t mean there are files, just that someone searched her name.
She wasn’t there. There’s no surgery, there’s something else going on but surgery isn’t a part of it.
Either she’s unwilling to play along with Willy & the RF anymore because he’s pushing for a formal separation, or she’s unable to because he’s pushing for a formal separation.
My belief is she’s digging in & is on strike until willy accepts there will be no formal separation. Wont work but it’s what she’s got. It’s already over, everyone seems to know but her.
Isn’t it awful that she has to dig her heels in to stay. She could have a nicer life without someone who doesn’t want her.
Like others have said, it doesn’t actually confirm she’s there (depending on their system, they could be tracking searches so even a search for “princess of wales” would send up a red flag.)
But it also doesn’t say anything about the dates she was there, which is one of the big questions – was she there when KP said she was?
I wonder if this was an attempt from someone who knew she was there (saw her in the hallway or something) and tried to sell some information to the tabloids but they wanted corroboration (i.e. not enough to say “I saw her and she looked like hell, she was on a stretcher being moved down the hallway,” the tabloids wanted some evidence of her condition before running the story.)
It is more than likely that someone on staff tried to check if she was actually admitted to the London clinic and if she wasn’t then nothing would have been accessed. And seeing as now Kate was a patient there in the past then something would have been triggered.
Clearly someone at the London clinic was questioning if she was even a patient there back in January.
She could have been there on other occasions and have a file of previous treatments. Outpatient stuff, 1-2 night stays we never heard of. The article only says that someone tried to look into her files in general.
I feel like a broken record (sorry!) but the article was published on December 2, 2023, so she wouldn’t have even been admitted at that time
It was also the king Edward Hospital not the London Clinic
“caught trying to access”
That is the key wording here. I don’t think they were successful. I don’t think in 2024, a hospital like that would have so nonchalant system where an unrelated personnel can access to a VIP’s records. The system probably sent alert about the unauthorized entry attempt, not that they successfully got it.
Exactly, and I don’t get why they are making it sound like such a big deal. It is not, and that is why I think the BM is blowing this up to deflect and redirect the narrative.
It’s part of their “Kates a victim” rehab, trying to tie her to Diana, even though it’s KP that has lied repeatedly to the public. Neither of them are victims but rather perpetrators at this point.
You would think that even if nobody talked outside the hospital or to the media, a fellow employee could get gossip from others. It is natural for people to want to talk about treating a famous person. That wouldn’t be any lesser “source” than the hearsay the BM prints all the time. So were only very, very trustworthy staff allowed around Kate or was she never really there or are the BM aware of what is going on and perpetrating the “mystery” along with KP?
I doubt a surgeon or theatre nurse or nurse ongoing would discuss it. Ditto staff such as pathologists. But all it takes is one staff member to tell his/her partner in confidence, which then gets relayed to a ‘trusted’ family member and so on. Notes could be spotted by temp admin staff. It’s amazing that it hasn’t got out; the secrecy on this will be massive. I still think she went there, because I doubt very much The London Clinic would appreciate being part of a scam. However, I’m getting to the point this could be something relatively minor, say a hernia, with facial surgery as a secondary thing. I’m going to pick a new theory every day.
There would be people in hallways seeing her coming or going. Orderlies, cleaning staff, etc. are around. Not all staff at hospitals are medical. Not to mention the media outside who managed to snap C&C and PW once going in.
@Sparrow, I also have a new theory every day. It’s getting exhausting
I thought this was reported on last year? This is the sort of ‘blagging’ by Journos that Harry talks about in the Netflix docu, in Spare AND in the context of why he is suing the toxic media rags. These filth (I mean they cant be human to do the sort of things they do) will do anything to get a story. It IS disturbing to read about, but no less disturbing than it was when it was labelled at Harry, his girlfriends, and Meghan back in the day. The fudging of the whole Hospital stay issue lies at the feet of KP who literally must be running around like headless chickens at this point. Mind you, I do think all of the fiasco could have been largely avoided if they had been a bit less secretive at the start of all this. As much as I dont give a fig for Charles and Camilla, at least they got it right with the PR. No one is dicussing his diagnosis or prognosis really. It’s just assumed he will get better and take up the reigns again when he can. WandK literally made a crisis happen because of their ineptitude. Interesting take on this in the latest episode of the John Sopel/Emily Maitlis podcast btw.
This story is from December last year, and they’re rehashing it, to take attention away from the Sun paying a ransom for a fake video and TMZ admitting they got conned by a con.
Yes. Surprise surprise, The Daily Fail now making a big deal of the info they first reported on last year, which by and large no-one noticed or cared about.
the 2023 was from a different hospital it seems. The one last year from was king Edward hospital , this time the confidentiality breach is from London Clinic.
if anything it shows that the UK has GDPR issues
The fact that they’re playing this card the very day Harry’s lawyers are in court, naming The Sun *and* Murdoch – by name… yeah. Deflection here, and a pathetic way to keep Huesa’s name in the news while pulling for sympathy.
@Wheresmytiara, I think you just solved it
@Lorelei While we’re at it, do they *really* think they can get away crying about this?
Because I’m old enough to remember Meghan’s health record being leaked by KP to the motherflipping Rota, and broadcast to the world on a podcast by Valentine Low.
Courtiers and principals alike, BP, KP’s messaging said sod all about demanding sympathy for Meghan and sowing outrage about the data theft.
Sadly this will continue happening because no one believes anything that they say. When it was first announced that she was having surgery I didn’t care about any of the details because why would I? It only seemed weird once we heard about the extensive recovery time. And then it’s just developed from there. Refusing to show her at all, William behaving erratically, William needing an extensive break as well, getting snippy when people ask for a little bit more detailed updates since you wouldn’t see her for 6 months, faking photos that they’re releasing to the international press. She absolutely deserves medical privacy but they’re doing every bone-headed thing under the sun to make people incredibly suspicious and instead are fanning the flames of conspiracy theories almost as if they’re enjoying it.
Yes to everything you said, Dee. And I’ll bet Pegs IS enjoying this. He seems like the type to get off on upsetting other people and throwing an obstinate tantrum, ‘nah nah nah, not gonna do what anyone tells me, you’re not the boss of me!’ Complete with the stomping of feet and grinding of molars. And he’s probably loving that Keen is getting thrown under the royal protect the heir bus.
A theory. William asked for a divorce and Kate flipped out! May have taken some pills (probably for anxiety) to scare him. Her stomach was pumped and since she seems to have an eating disorder her intestinal system was already damaged. The pumping did more damage and she had to have abdominal surgery. She was put in a medically induced coma to keep her calm. She is now at a facility recovering. This is why she isn’t available and why William is panicking. We shall see
CBS morning show had a segment about this story this morning that also mentioned the altered pic with the queen and her grandkids and great-grandkids. The piece made a statement that Americans were more curious Keen than people in the UK and that people in the UK want her to have her privacy/wish her well. After the report Gail King said Keen should be left alone. One of the male co-hosts retorted that if Kate can carry grocery bags, she can do royal work. Lol.
Well, I would say, Americans are more interested because American media is reporting on it freely. So, with each weird development people get more curious. There is a controlled reporting on BM (not just press, but also tv news, morning shows). When UK was reporting on Meghan & Harry breathlessly, the public was more curious about them. It is the same thing except no hateful, racist coverage.
Exactly! The American outlets are putting out more interesting stories, more of the truth. Most people in the UK weren’t even permitted to know about Colbert’s monologue.
I suspect this is the Mirror trying to yank Willy’s chain. I read the article and noticed that although they say London Clinic, they describe King Edward Hospital. Kaiser didn’t lift this part of the original article, but it included a description of the London Clinic as a private 56 room hospital that has treated all the royals including the Queen, Phillip and Margaret. That is King Edward Hospital, which is where that Dec. 28 convoy was supposedly headed. We all suspect she was never in the London Clinic but Willy had us looking over there as a decoy. The press most likely knows or suspects where Kate actually was hospitalized and has resurrected this old story to make KP nervous, since when you make Willy nervous he does something stupid in response.
That’s interesting… maybe someone at the King Edward clinic was checking to see if Kate had even been there…
Yikes. 😬
I think you’re right Harper
I hope you’re right, @Harper, and William’s next boneheaded move will be made known shortly!
Oh wow… the plot thickens. I was on the verge of giving up on this story out of fatigue but THIS PULLS ME BACK IN lol…
Something that I am finding interesting to watch play out – and we’ll have to see how it plays out in the end – is the mini war of the tabloids that’s happening. The Sun got the exclusive over the weekend and on Monday, and Matt Wilkinson at the Sun has been doing a lot to cover for KP – so I think the exclusive was his reward. I’m seeing a lot of derangers on social media say how the DM is no longer reliable (lmao) since they’ve dared to run a few stories that are almost sort of kind of maybe a little critical of Kate and William.
and now the Mirror has this story and is pushing the idea that it might be King Edward hospital after all.
I wonder if there is something big about to drop and the tabloids are jockeying to see who gets the scoop first.
@Becks1 I thought the same thing. This is The Mirror getting antsy because they are losing out on the big stories. Only Willy or his partners in crime are going to understand that very low key reference to KE Hospital. Willy is going to have to throw them an exclusive bone now to keep them quiet.
This theory would fit the Feb 7th black attire from royals & press.
People who think Kate is fine and never had a severe health issue still need an explanation for that. We saw Charles in public Feb 7th. He wasn’t on death’s door.
I don’t believe this story.
The way that they are writing this does make it sound like someone tried to access her records but did not complete the task. But I assume this has been vetted by lawyers at this point. Also, I think they want to disassociate from the Grazie (?) publication who claimed impeccable sources with Kate in coma.
This is not ok to access someone medical information without their consent and that was one of the reason why many people turned on the BM rats and company for sharing Meghan medical information.
Having the London clinic admit this means that they are alleging that Kate was really there. Good little cover-up?
Technically, they are only admitting that someone tried to access any records that might or might not exist on Kate Middleton.
That is being used to suggest it confirms she was there, but in reality it does not.
You’re right!
I will go out on a limb, here, and say that a person holding high-profile public office does not have same rights to medical privacy as anyone else. This is especially true, when questions of national security are involved. Imagine if the POTUS lied about his health status (ooops, yeah, already happened!) and the public had no recourse to compel the information (oh, yeah, that’s happened, too!).
The analogy would be the late Queen, whose health status was kept from the public, even as she failed some of her constitutional duties. The UK effectively had a regency, without the public’s knowledge or consent. We can see that many of the poor decisions from the Palaces stem from that time. But, again, mostly in retrospect.
Kate is not currently in such a constitutionally-significant position as Queen or POTUS, but, as Kaiser has mentioned, her status does have constitutional implications. She is the current Princess of Wales and the presumptive future Queen consort.
The problem is that we’ve never engaged in a public conversation about where the line between personal privacy and public need-to-know falls, with respect to such people. We haven’t even really established that such a conversation is urgently necessary—even as we, in the USA, live in a gerontocracy. With the specter of a second Trump presidency, that need is even more urgent.
Also, just to clarify: I’m responding, here, to Kaiser’s comment, not so much the actual story/non-story.
this is a wild take. Kate is nowhere as important as the Queen , Biden or even as important as Charles , William.
it might make for speculative discussion in a comment section but this would absolutely not hold up anywhere in any parliament or court of law to make her health records public just to appease some members of the blogosphere who are using some tenuous link to “constitutionally significant” to justify more gossip material
Meh, I think there is something to this. Not that anyone is owed her entire medical history or that her health records need to be public (which I don’t think is what @bisynaptic is saying, for the record.)
But it does seem that for public, taxpayer funded figures, there should be a higher level of transparency. QEII appeared incapable of her duties the last 6 months (or more) and while its assumed Charles took over…..did he? Or was it the men in grey running things?
Do I think the public has the right to know if Kate had an appendectomy or a bowel resection? Generally speaking, yes. Not the specifics of the surgery or whatever, but whenever a public, taxpayer funded figure wants to take off for months on end and won’t disclose why, I think the public has a right to ask these questions.
And I think if we look at Charles we can see how a public figure can handle this without disclosing the specific details. Procedure related to his prostate, cancer treatments, still able to work, still attending church, still meeting with leaders, just taking a few big steps back. No one is demanding his medical records b/c he has provided that certain level of transparency.
Becks
An appendectomy or a bowel resection are private detailed medical information. At this moment , we do not know what her conditions are and guess what , this has had zero impact on any wars taking place, or laws voted nor did the markets crash. this is all the proof we need that her private health records are of no major signification than for gossip followers like ourselves with too much time on our hands.
if the “public has a right to ask these questions”, then i would expect the public to request their parliamentary representatives debate this motion in the House of Commons. That would be an interesting watch to see anyone argue why we need to know if Kate had an appendectomy or a bowel resection
I’m a government employee, and if I need more than three days off for medical reasons, I need to provide a note from my doctor that says why I need off.
If Kate has no impact on anything (and I agree that she doesn’t) then I would ask why she receives millions a year in taxpayer money as well as taxpayer provided security? If she has “had zero impact on any wars taking place, or laws voted nor did the markets crash” then what is her purpose?
I think that’s an interesting question but I’m sure its one that the royalists don’t want people asking.
but does your doctor’s note mention if you had a bowel resection or a appendectomy? No, right ? because its private and that is how it should be for everyone.
The fact that they cost millions is a completely seperate issue to the privacy of her health records and even if she was up there working 7 days a week, she still shouldnt cost millions because royalty has no purpose, they are no different to pandas in a zoo.
i have however changed my mind over the security question, i feel it is more justified because i have seen some really unhinged commentors, i frequent several royal blogs & reddit groups, and its true that they are generally anti kate ( because of how meghan was treated) but some people have lost their minds over this.
Kate is irrelevant to the constitution, which is not a written one in the UK. When Diana died she was Princess of wales and it had zero effect on the running of the country. Only the monarch has a role in the UK government. No one else matters. Even William. Because as long as the line of succession exists, there is always someone who could take over, it doesn’t have to be the prince of wales.
The issue is more that Kate gets funded significantly by the government and she is taking a ton of time off without any financial penalties. No public servant could get away with that except for this family and that is where the conversation needs to happen. And William has done very little as well.
If you think royal blogs and Reddit are anti-Kate, and that Kate is more deserving of taxpayer funded security than someone like Meghan(who has had significant threats made against her life, to the point where people are in JAIL for it) you should have just said so, because that explains a lot about your position here.
ETA But the point is also that we don’t have a doctor’s note from Kate. If my doctor wrote a note saying I had to be off work for 3 months, it would be on the basis of my procedure/illness. My doctor would not write a note for an extended leave with no end in sigh bc I asked for one. And yes, sometimes my work does require a diagnosis or more details.
Of course Meghan deserves both privacy and security. When did i put this into question? defending someone’s right to private medical records doesn’t mean that i don’t support meghan. Your comment if anything shows the bad faith arguments being made here with regards to her medical records. This isnt concern about taxpayers money ot constitutional rights this is about demanding our pound of flesh because we dont like Kate. All the weak justifications are just window dressing.
It isn’t about the medical records but the lies about when she is “getting back to work”. In no other government funded position could someone just take off and be so unclear about the return date. Even Charles the actual head of state has provided more information so why does Kate get to just not say anything about the return date. She is a public figure and a publicly funded public figure and so yes there is some obligation of more disclosure about where the hell she is at. At this point there would be some idea about a return date, which all employers require. And if you want short or long term disability leave you do have to tell them your medical issue.
yeah, agree @Julia. Once she’s Queen it’s a different matter, I would agree that there are constitutional issues at that point. Camilla is effectively leading the monarchy during Charles’ illness. At what point during his illness is it effectively a regency, and at what point do we demand to know what her health situation is? Or William’s, given his obvious problems since January?
Kate as Pow is a married in, not a Counselor of State so until those things change she is fully entitled to medical privacy IMO. She’s on a lower rung than Harry, who is in the line of succession and a Counselor of State and we all protect his right to privacy….
Harry no longer receives taxpayer money. Remember how the british press insisted for years that he and Meghan didn’t have the right to any kind of privacy (medical or not) because of receiving taxpayer money?
Charles is different because he is still working. Kate just completely went MIA for months. I think its normal that there are going to be questions about that.
I agree with Becks1. A person who is funded by the taxpayer for a “job” cannot call off the job with no explanation, just as “normal” people can’t. The demands are higher when on the public dime.
It’s like the welfare system. One can’t claim benefits without saying why. There’s no right to privacy there, add in constitutional roles hundreds of millions of pounds and the obligation grows, not lessens.
The job itself is to be seen to be believed. To hide out with no proper explanation coupled with fake photos to try to prove everything is fine, and they’ve raised the need to disclose, not lessened it.
WiththeAmerican
so all public servants of which there are tens of thousands should have their health records made public ?? in any government job the most you have to do is give your doctor’s certificate which gives the duration of the absence period, there is never any information on the health issues.
i know this is just a gossip section , but this is veering from being fun to downright absurd. No one is owed my health records , nor should we demand it from others unless they are holding decision making powers like a PM or a President.
NO ONE is “demanding” her health records.
The argument is that there should be a higher level of transparency when someone who is completely supported by the taxpayers (in a way that most government employees are not, btw) takes off months on end with no real explanation.
AGAIN look at how Charles handled this, and look at how differently people are responding to him as a result.
but You are demanding it.
Again , Kate is not the King of England, she doesnt have weekly meetings with the PM. how can people not see the difference in their role ?
The level at which someone is supported by the taxpayer is irrelevant , we do not OWN people. Im happy for someone to make the argument against royalty but you cannot use this status to say that you are owed their medical records. On top of that why would non UK based people be demanding it in the first place.
This is just attempting to add a veneer of seriousness to a completely frivolous request in order to feed the gossip windmill
Julia, you keep putting words in peoples mouths to portray Kate as the victim of people wanting her medical records. No one here has ever asked for her medical records, that’s absurd and frankly just suggests you’re not arguing in good faith.
It’s so dishonest to pretend the King isn’t sitting right there, showing how to be in the public eye while having cancer of an *unspecified* – hence private- type.
I’m losing patience with your repeated unfounded accusations against posters here, and the next time you come at someone here accusing them of wanting someone a medical records, I will quite fairly return the favor by accusing you of working for Kensington Palace.
The consort is irrelevant to the constitution otherwise the UK would have been in trouble when Philip died. Only the monarch has a role. The rest of the family is not needed.
That said it does not mean that they shouldn’t be held accountable for the millions they receive for the services they are allegedly doing. Especially since the money that goes to them is not going to people in true need of government services.
Julia is always anti Meghan and pro KP, Kate, William in her posts.
I wouldn’t doubt that she is a kp staffer or a BM plant
Well, I see I’ve started quite the discussion!
@Julia, nowhere did I say that Kate is as important as the Queen. (@Nic19) But she does have an important constitutional role, because the people of the UK have decided (as of now, still) that monarchy and its structures and trappings are important to them. (The UK does not have a written constitution; that doesn’t mean that members of the BRF, outside the monarch, don’t have a constitutional role.) And anyone who is in such a prominent position is subject to being compromised, as Brits well know. Putin, at least, is paying attention. Who knows what kompromat he already has on the British Royal Family. As others have mentioned, this does have national security implications.
And I thought it would go without saying (but, apparently, not) that the need for disclosure scales with the prominence of the position. Notice that I wrote “high-profile public officials”, right off the bat: the increased need for transparency starts with high-profiles. Lowly civil servants need not worry.
But even civil servants have to provide documentation of their illness, if they want to take time off work. No one (except, maybe, the BRF) gets to take hiatus without some kind of formal accountability. And @Becks1, you’re right: no one (including me) is asking for access to Kate’s medical records. The issue isn’t necessarily about medical records—although, again, in some cases, like the POTUS, or the UK PM, it might be; that’s the conversation we need to have.
My point is that the public’s need to know exerts greater pressure on a public official’s right to medical privacy, the higher the profile and status of the official. We need to start talking about what shape an acceptable compromise will take, soon—especially, as it pertains to Heads of State and Heads of Government , because Donald Trump, an obviously cognitively impaired man, is the Republican candidate for POTUS.
@Julia, I will add a note about my own personal experience. I’m a physician who encountered health problems during medical residency training. These problems led to my requesting time off and accommodation for my medical issues. Did my employer get specific information about my medical records? Absolutely! Did the Medical Board get my medical records? Yes! They got ALL my medical records.
I don’t know where the idea comes from that employers don’t get to know specifics about your medical history, if you need more time off than what you’re normally allotted, as an employee, but, I have to tell you: we don’t live in that world. There’s an excellent case to be made for the idea that the balance needs to shift back to workers, but, in the case of public officials, the discussion must include the national security implications of our policies.
I don’t think she was ever there without someone’s recollection of anything that happened around her stay or her family’s visits.
I work at a hospital and confidentially is huge. I would never talk about a famous person’s admission or presence at our hospital because I could lose my job as a result. It’s not worth it to share some gossip. I’m sure the hospitals have a flag on her records so people would get caught trying to access.
I’ll go out on a limb for the national security argument. A hostile foreign government may have hacked into Kate’s medical records and succeeded. Hospital data breaches can and have happened. KP may have been notified and well as BP and MI6. The hospital worker being caught before taking the records may be the cover story. The BRF and the government would want it out there the future king and queen consort have been compromised and the current and/or future monarch can be blackmailed into turning over the government documents that in the sovereign’s daily red boxes so the truth about Kate’s illness is not revealed. Tin foil tiara off.
When the original hacking story came out, it really did sound like Russia.
If this happened, and if it was an employee with a login to the practice management program, it will be very quick and easy for authorities to confirm it. They will be able to tell date/time, who did it and exactly what the person looked at. Every single keystroke in practice management programs is available to the administration of the medical facility.
I bet they already know what happened and have dealt with it. This is KP desperate to distract because the blurry video didn’t work as planned.
tell me you don’t work in medicine without telling me you don’t work in medicine. i work in a hospital, several very high profile celebrities & politicians have been admitted, and not one employee went into their chart and sold their info. ppl saw them enter and leave. but we are professionals and also…everyone wants to keep their job. one time payout versus a job????
Julia, you’re being overly literal and missing the point that the monarchy is the modern face of the British Empire and still wields tremendous power with access most of us can only dream of. This is about transparency. I have no interest in this woman or her medical issues. But royal spouses can and do get up to shenanigans with constitutional and criminal law implications – does anyone remember Fergie selling access to Andrew and Turkey issuing a warrant for her arrest due to her ‘investigation’ of Turkish orphanages? The question is, where is Kate and what is she hiding? Is this a real illness or cover for something else? This idea that individuals with tremendous wealth and privilege living off the public purse should never be questioned is offensive in a modern democratic society. On the one hand, we are to believe these people are dedicated public servants, yet they can disappear with no explanation? So maybe bisynaptic framed it narrowly, but there are absolutely issues here beyond Kate’s right to medical privacy (which I don’t disagree with in principle).
I worked in medical offices for 20 years. When I first started HIPPA wasn’t as big of a deal then as it is now. When I was put in charge of medical records (filing, updating PT info, dealing with other Drs and lawyers, etc)
I was amazed with how simple it was to have anybody just walk in and look at records (staff only to be clear) and then the hammer came down and I mean it CAME DOWN. The state was all “nah we ain’t having that no more”. My administrator and I were the only ones with the keys to the medical records room and I guarded those with my life.
It seemed like every other week I was being sent to classes and getting constant emails about patient privacy and what I could and could not release with or without consent. (and don’t EVEN get me started on lawyers who REALLLLLLLLLY should have known better 🙄)
IF she was at the London Clinic, I would hazard a guess that her records went with her (or sent immediately to her Primary Physician or Surgeon) and not left at the clinic, seeing as how she’s so high profile. Everyone and their Gramma would want to get their hands on them and sell them to the highest bidder (my personal opinion)
most if not all medical records are electronic now. and last I looked, def in the NHS. so, it’s unlikely it needs to go anywhere. and i really would like to give healthcare professionals more credit, bc most everyone with access to patient records are professionals and wouldn’t violate someone’s privacy so blatantly. also, every single time I’ve seen anything close to HIPPA violation, the person has been fired. no questions asked. this is true in the US and i bet it’s true for the NHS.
Strange how nobody tried to access Charles’ medical records, it’s almost as if being squirrelly doesn’t pay off.
This is the second time a worker at a hospital has got into trouble over Kate. The last time it happened the poor nurse committed suicide.
I have no idea what’s happened, but my gut instincts tell me that the hospital staff are being thrown under the bus. I think if there was a hack it may have been from an outside source and the only people who would want to hack Kate’s medical records are the trash press. We all know they love to hack.
Colour me bias but REALLY? Sorry I don’t believed this, no matter what they or the hospital say, I will only believe it if someone is arrested and charged.
With any hospital records, you need your INDIVIDUAL log in to access them, and I don’t believe anyone is stupid enough to try and access information that way, a hacker maybe, but not a member of staff.
During last Summer’s phone hacking trial against Daily Mirror its publisher apologised unreservedly for using a private investigator to try to access the medical records of the comedian Paul Whitehouse’s former wife. Fiona had ovarian cancer which was a private matter and nobody’s business apart from her own no matter how famous her husband is. Said PI tried to blag her cancer treatment details by ringing up her surgeon and pretending to work at another hospital. Rather hypocritical of The Mirror to express outrage about this now given their admitted blagging attempt for a vulnerable woman’s private cancer treatment?!
I do find the news blackout on Thomas Kingston and his death rather strange. Rumours about it have been removed from the internet.
As someone who has access to people’s information I would not ever look someone up unless I had a request from them. There is a famous story about someone at chase who looked up Jamie Dimon’s bank account and was immediately fired.
They have records of everything you do and look up! If you are looking up info about high profile celebrities that you might have access to at your job, there will be log of you doing it! Don’t let your curiosity get the best of you!