Revenge at the Hospital: Employee Deletes Embryo Data — Court Imposes Prison Term and Professional Ban

An unusual case from Son Llàtzer

What sounds like the plot of a bad crime novel happened in November 2023 in Palma: A permanently employed administrative worker at Son Llàtzer Hospital used her login credentials to delete large parts of the register for frozen embryos and eggs. The matter came to light a few days later — and has since drawn wide attention in court.

What exactly was deleted

According to statements from the proceedings, entries for around 1712 embryos and about 414 eggs were removed from the database. The woman apparently justified the act with the announced transfer to another facility — anger about the change, that is the core of the indictment. In court, she admitted the manipulation and stated she was criminally and civilly responsible.

Sentence and consequences

The court imposed a prison term of one and a half years; in addition, the defendant received a professional ban of the same length. Given the confession, she accepted the sentence to avoid prolonging the proceedings. In a brief statement, the whole affair seemed more like a spoiled mood with fatal consequences — at least on paper.

Why the patients were not left empty-handed

Fortune in misfortune: The hospital's IT department regularly took backup copies. These backups enabled data restoration, so according to the hospital management, the mapping of embryos and eggs to the respective couples was never actually lost. The directorate described the incident as "isolated" and stressed that there were no biological damages to samples. Whether that is consoling for affected families remains another matter.

What remains

In the corridors of Son Llàtzer, somewhere between the cafeteria and administration, staff still discuss trust, access rights and controls. The affair is a wake-up call: digital records and human frailties are a risky combination. Authorities are now talking about tightened controls and a review of IT security protocols — and some colleagues tell, off the record, about shift schedules and staff changes that resemble fuse strings more than organizational questions.

A case that makes you think: Data are not just bits — for many people they stand for hopes, names and plans.