The Justice of Rio de Janeiro authorized the breach of confidentiality of electronic data and messages of those involved in the case of HIV infection in patients who received transplants in the state health network. The decision was taken this Sunday 13th, during the Judiciary Duty.
The partners and employees of the PCS Lab Saleme laboratory, in Nova Iguaçu, in Baixada Fluminense, are the main people being investigated. The laboratory is being investigated for having issued reports that said two organ donors did not have HIV, when in fact they were positive for the virus. Six people who received the organs were infected by the virus.
Judge Flavia Fernandes de Melo authorized access to data from “seized electronic devices, such as messages, emails, conversations on chat applications in real time or not, the calendar and analysis of calls made and received, as well as of photos, images, video or audio files of the seized devices, and such diligence can be carried out by the civil police themselves, the Consumer Police Station (Decon) that are designated, the Carlos Éboli Criminalistics Institute (ICCE) and the Civil Police Secretariat (Sepol), responsible for the investigation.”
The magistrate ordered a search and seizure at the addresses of the laboratory’s co-owners – Walter Vieira, Matheus Sales Teixeira Bandoli Vieira, Marcia Nenes Vieira and Eliane Nunes Vieira – and also at the homes of PCS Lab employees Saleme Jacqueline Iris Barcellar de Assis, Cleber de Oliveira Santos and Ivanildo Fernandes dos Santos.
According to the judge, police measures must preserve “people’s rights and guarantees, guarding against possible excesses that could tarnish the evidence to be collected, carrying out a detailed report of the material found, including testimony from people who were at the scene and , if applicable, the arrest in the act of those allegedly involved”.
This Monday the 14th, the Civil Police carried out 11 search and seizure warrants and two arrest warrants: Walter Vieira, who is one of the laboratory’s partners, and a technician. Two other arrest warrant targets are on the run. According to the delegate responsible for the action, André Neves, the investigations detected negligence in checking the validity of the reagents, that is, the chemicals that react with contaminated blood and indicate the presence of the HIV virus. If they are out of date, these supplies may be ineffective in detecting HIV and result in a false negative test.
The objective was to reduce costs and increase the laboratory’s profit, according to Neves.
One of the partners of the PCS Lab Saleme laboratory, Walter Vieira, stated in a statement to the police that the preliminary result made by the laboratory’s internal investigation points to signs of human error in the transcription of the results of two HIV tests.
Understand the case
The infections in transplant patients occurred after tests carried out by a private laboratory, PCS, showed the absence of the HIV virus in the organs of two donors. The laboratory was contracted by the Health Foundation, under the responsibility of the Health Department of the State of Rio de Janeiro to support the transplant program in the state.
The PCS had its service suspended shortly after becoming aware of the case and was temporarily banned. As a result, examinations on organs for transplants began to be carried out by Hemorio.
The Ministry of Health ordered the installation of an urgent audit by the National Audit Department of the SUS in the Rio de Janeiro transplant system and the investigation of any irregularities in the contracting of the aforementioned laboratory, among other measures.
