Michael Schumacher’s medical file: Swiss helicopter company investigated

According to French prosecutors, a Swiss helicopter company is at the centre of an inquiry into attempts to sell Michael Schumacher’s medical file, reports say.

Michael Schumacher, 45, was moved on June 16 from a French hospital to a hospital in Lausanne in Switzerland.

Although the former F1 champion was transferred by road, initial contact was reportedly made with the helicopter company.

Michael Schumacher suffered a severe head injury in a skiing accident last December and has come out of a medically-induced coma.

His manager, Sabine Kehm, said last month that his medical files had been “clearly stolen” and were being offered for sale. She warned that criminal charges would be pressed if such “confidential files” were bought or published.

The medical records, said to consist of a few pages written by his doctors in the French city of Grenoble, were apparently being offered for sale to media across Europe for 50,000 euros ($68,000).

Now French and Swiss media say the prosecutor in Grenoble is looking at a computer whose IP address has been traced to a Swiss helicopter company, which was sent the medical files while the ex-champion’s doctors were considering how to transport him to Lausanne.

The latest development emerged in French newspaper Le Dauphine Libere, and Swiss media said it had been confirmed by the prosecutor in Grenoble.

Suspicions had initially fallen on the hospital in Grenoble and the ambulance team which eventually drove him across the border.

According to the Grenoble prosecutor, the computer was traced back to a helicopter company in the Swiss canton of Zurich. The company’s name has not been made public.

The file had been sent to a doctor at the company, although there was nothing to link the doctor to the alleged offence.

The news emerged last month when German newspaper Bild said it had received an email offering the medical files for sale. Swiss, French and UK tabloid newspapers were also said to have been approached.

The Grenoble prosecutor said the handful of pages of the medical file sent appeared to date back to late May, and referred not to Michael Schumacher but a pseudonym, Jeremy Martin.

It is thought the latest findings of the French inquiry will now be handed to the authorities in Switzerland.

Michael Schumacher’s family has said very little about his medical progress, preferring to avoid the gaze of the international media.

However, the Swiss media reported on Monday that Michael Schumacher’s wife Corinna had posed smiling for photographs at the weekend while visiting a horse ranch given to her by her husband.

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