 ZURICH (Reuters) - Fiat Chrysler FCHI.MI said it knew nothing about the medical condition of Sergio Marchionne after a Swiss hospital said on Thursday it had been treating the deceased chief executive for more than a year. FILE PHOTO: Formula One - F1 - Italian Grand Prix 2017 - Monza, Italy - September 3, 2017 Ferrari president Sergio Marchionne arrives before the race REUTERS/Max Rossi/File photo 
 
 “Due to medical privacy, the company had no knowledge of the facts relating to Mr. Marchionne’s health,” a Fiat Chrysler spokesman said. Questions have been raised about how long Marchionne, who died on Wednesday, was ill and how much the company knew before it made the situation public. “The company was made aware that Mr. Marchionne had undergone shoulder surgery and released a statement about this,” the spokesperson said. "On Friday July 20, the company was made aware with no detail by Mr. Marchionne's family of the serious deterioration in Mr. Marchionne's condition and that as a result he would be unable to return to work," it added. The Company promptly took and announced the appropriate action the following day.” 
 
 Asked whether the scope of the statement included the board and the chairman, the company declined to comment.  The Swiss hospital that treated Sergio Marchionne says the former Fiat Chrysler CEO received treatment for a serious illness for more than a year before he died. “Although all the options offered by cutting-edge medicine were utilized, Mr. Marchionne unfortunately passed away.” 
 
 University Hospital Zurich declined to comment on Marchionne’s illness, but said it deeply regretted his death and expressed its condolences to his family.
– The illness and death of Fiat Chrysler's fast-charging, unconventional CEO may have seemed sudden and surprising to many, but Sergio Marchionne was apparently sick for longer than anyone—even his employer—knew. That news comes to the Wall Street Journal from University Hospital Zurich, which notes Marchionne had a "serious illness" for which he sought treatment at the hospital for more than a year. In a statement issued to get ahead of "further speculation," UHZ says it gave the ailing Marchionne "all the options offered by cutting-edge medicine," though it didn't detail what exactly he was being treated for. And because of patient privacy rules, Fiat Chrysler says it was in the dark about Marchionne's issues. "The company had no knowledge of the facts relating to Mr. Marchionne's health," a company spokesman says, per Reuters, adding it wasn't until July 20 that it "was made aware with no detail by Mr. Marchionne's family of the serious deterioration in Mr. Marchionne's condition." The reason that's important is because "material" information about a company is required to be divulged to shareholders under securities laws. Whether a high-level exec's health counts as "material" can get murky, but a company can get itself into trouble if it puts out "half-truths or inconsistent statements," a Northwestern University professor tells the Journal. In February, Fiat Chrysler's annual report noted that Marchionne's hands-on involvement in the company was "critical to the execution of our strategic direction and implementation of our business plan," reports CNNMoney.