An appalling breach of ethics

This makes me just furious! On my main blog, I had written a number of posts about Elizabeth Fritzl, the Austrian woman who's father held her captive. I has assumed that because so much information was being given out - some of it which pretty obviously had to come from doctors and therapists, and some from the police - that she'd given consent for people to discuss what had happened to her. As such, I saw no problem in writing and commenting on the situation myself.

Apparently, that's not the case:

Fritzl incest victim may sue over media reports Published Date: 07 July 2008
By Allan Hall in Berlin

CELLAR incest victim Elisabeth Fritzl is threatening legal action against the police and her own doctors after learning at the weekend of the media reports about her plight.

She wrote a letter to authorities stating: "I require that no data or discussions about what took place in the cellar are passed on to any media.

"It must be the task of the state to prevent exposing that which the Fritzls endured. I want to live in freedom with my children."

Isolated from the media storm which broke when she and three of six children she had by her own father in a cellar dungeon underneath his home were freed in April, Elisabeth, 42, now realises the extent of the interest her case has drawn. The authorities have offered new identities to Elisabeth and her children.

Josef Fritzl, 74, is now in jail awaiting trial on numerous unspecified charges.

Eva Platz, her lawyer, said Elisabeth is "horrified" that police and other authorities have released so many details about her ordeal which contravenes Austria's Draconian personal privacy laws.

She said she will take "judicial steps" to prevent any more information about her plight being published.

I don't even know what to say. This family is just starting to get to know each other, and to a great extent who they are - and now, because these people in whom she had put her trust thought everyone needed to know their business, they're likely going to have to start all over again, and try to figure out how to live in such a way that people won't be able to figure out their new identity. To me, it seems almost like going back into a prison - not a physical one, obviously, but a prison that will be built on lies: New names, an invented background story, having to teach your children to lie everyday about who they are and where they came from. Honestly, I hope she does sue and is able to win enough to relocate maybe to an entirely different country - IF that's what she wants or feels is best - so that she and her children can live out their lives in peace.
Unfortunately, it may not always work. I've read about people who are now trying to discover the new identities of the two boys who had brutally killed Jamie Bolger, as they're not out of prison (ugh!) and there was a case in Australia many years ago where two friends had killed one of the girls' mother - the movie "Heavenly Creatures" was based on it - and they were given new identities when they left prison. Many years later, people decided to try and track them down, and actually revealed that one had gone on to become a mystery writer and the other a teacher. I have to admit, I don't feel too sorry for any of them - they're murderers, and I just don't have any pity to waste on them. But it shows that even decades after an incident has occurred, if something happens to bring it back into public attention (much as Natasha, the Austrian girl who had been kidnapped by a man and held in his dungeon for 8 years, has had her case thrust back into the spotlight because of the Fritzl situation,) then people will want to go out and find out "whatever happened to...."

I can't unwrite what I've already written, but I am going to make those posts private so no one else can read them, and this will be the last thing I have to say on the case. I hope the same will hold true for the doctors, therapists and other authorities that have been putting out information as well.