Watchdog contacts hospital over privacy fears

The Data Protection Commissioner has contacted the hospital at the centre of an abortion information leak over concerns that a patient’s privacy may have been breached.

A spokeswoman for Commissioner Billy Hawkes said “very informal contact” was made with the National Maternity Hospital at Holles Street on Monday after the incident was reported in Friday’s Irish Times.

An article in the newspaper provided significant details on the pregnant woman in the case, on the grounds that the termination would be the first to take place under the recently drawn-up Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act 2013.