Peru's health regulator, Susalud, has fined private hospital operator Medic Ser S.A.C. 69,550 soles for handing former first lady Nadine Heredia's complete medical history to prosecutors without patient consent or a court order.
The sanction follows an administrative investigation into Clínica Delgado, a private hospital in Lima operated by Medic Ser S.A.C., which turned over 15 years of Heredia's confidential treatment records to an anti-corruption prosecutor's office.
Susalud, formally known as the National Health Superintendency, imposed a fine of 13 Tax Units, amounting to nearly 69,550 Peruvian soles. The regulator classified the breach as a light infraction rather than a severe violation, despite requests from the complainant for a harsher penalty.
The administrative proceeding originated from a broader complaint filed by complainant León Flores against three healthcare facilities: Clínica Delgado, the National Institute of Neoplastic Diseases, and Dos de Mayo National Hospital. After initial reviews by Susalud's Inspection Area, the case moved to the Intendency of Supervision and Sanction, which decided in March 2026 to proceed solely against Clínica Delgado while archiving the complaints against the two public hospitals.
Prosecution Requisitions and Email Transfers
The events prompting the penalty occurred on November 9 and November 13, 2023. Over that weekend, the Specialised Corporate Supraprovincial Prosecutor's Office for Public Official Corruption Crimes sent two formal requisitions to Clínica Delgado.
Prosecutors demanded Heredia's full 15-year medical history, a report on whether her treatment was optimal for a diagnosis of hyperparathyroidism, and the medical justification for recommending a positron emission tomography scan. Clínica Delgado answered both requests by email without requiring a judicial order or obtaining consent from Heredia or her representative.
Heredia served as Peru's first lady during the presidency of her husband, Ollanta Humala, from 2011 to 2016. Clínica Delgado, located in Lima's Miraflores district and owned by healthcare group Auna, is one of Peru's leading private medical facilities. Hyperparathyroidism is a condition involving overactive parathyroid glands, while positron emission tomography scans are diagnostic imaging procedures used to evaluate metabolic activity in tissue.
Rejection of Legal Defense Arguments
In its defense, Clínica Delgado argued that it acted in compliance with legal duty, citing Peru's Personal Data Protection Law, which allows information to be shared with public entities exercising statutory duties. The clinic also stated that prosecutors coerced the release by including a warning of criminal charges for disobedience to authority, and presented a prosecutorial ruling that archived a criminal investigation against the employee who handled the request for alleged aggravated invasion of privacy.
Susalud rejected all of the clinic's arguments. The regulator explained that the Personal Data Protection Law does not eliminate the specific rules of the General Health Law, which strictly mandates a court order or patient consent to release medical histories, except in cases of gunshot wounds, traffic accidents, or other forms of violence.
The regulatory body also noted that the dismissal of criminal proceedings against the individual employee has no bearing on the corporate administrative liability of Medic Ser S.A.C., as administrative and criminal reviews involve distinct legal evaluations.
Ombudsman Findings and Appeal Window
The stance taken by Susalud was supported by a technical-legal report from the Ombudsman's Office, requested by León Flores. The Ombudsman's Office emphasized that the confidential status of a medical history does not disappear simply because a public authority requests the document.
Susalud declined to order the corrective measures requested by Flores, which included demanding the destruction of copies of the medical records held by prosecutors. Clínica Delgado has 15 business days to either pay the fine with a 20 percent discount or file an appeal.
