Social Worker Was Behind Leak About Vietnamese Couple

A social worker at Landspítali was behind the leak to the Directorate of Immigration which made misleading claims about a Vietnamese couple.

A source speaking to Vísir has disclosed it was a social worker at the National University Hospital (Landspítali) who contacted the Directorate of Immigration (UTL) about Thi Thuy Nguyen and Hao Van Tio. The recently married couple were accused by UTL of having a sham marriage. The source says that a journal entry at UTL lists the source.

Part of the reasoning UTL used to file a report with the police about the couple was that “information has come from the National Hospital that the woman was very young and childlike”, referring to the couple’s visit to the hospital shortly before UTL contacted the police. Hospital officials have said that they take the matter very seriously and are conducting an investigation.

While the couple have since come forward to categorically deny this accusation, the lawyer representing Thi Thuy has said they are considering filing charges against the hospital for breach of confidentiality and violation of privacy.

“This is dead serious, because a leak like this has no place in a government institution, let alone Landspítali,” Björg Valgeirsdóttir, Thi Thuy Nguyen’s lawyer, told reporters, pointing out that the hospital only has the right to report on patient information to Child Protective Services. “So it seems as though the transfer of this information from Landspítali to UTL was completely illegal.”

In happier news, the couple are both now in possession of permanent residence permits.