00:02Alan Ashmore was proud to serve his country in the Vietnam War, but he's now among 6,000
00:07veterans taking the federal government to court for quietly giving their medical data
00:11to the University of South Australia.
00:14GP visits, specialist appointments, allied health.
00:18I was just staggered at the amount of personal, private, medical information that had been
00:27handed over.
00:28The University used the de-identified information equivalent to Medicare data as part of the
00:33MATES program, which looked for dangers linked to prescribed medicines, and contacted the
00:39veterans' GPs if necessary.
00:41Department of Veterans Affairs cardholders were automatically enrolled.
00:45Diagnoses and details of their treatment was disclosed to a university without their knowledge
00:53or consent.
00:54MATES ran for 20 years, ending in 2024 when the federal government cancelled it after
01:00an ethics review.
01:01The class action will probe how it was ever approved.
01:03It's really about what our own government can do with our personal information, and in
01:09particular the personal information of a reasonably vulnerable cohort of people.
01:13If that was sent from the health department about me, or anybody else in the community, there
01:19would be an absolute outrage, and this is no different.
01:24The department declined to comment on the action while it's underway, but says the program
01:29managed data securely and prevented around 1,000 hospitalisations and deaths.
01:33No date for a court appearance has been set, and it's unclear if the government will defend
01:39the claim.
