Privacy & Security

SUDBURY, Ont. – A computer virus at Health Sciences North led the hospital to shut down various medical systems to avoid the problem from spreading. Staff at the hospital in Sudbury called it a “zero-day virus,” meaning a virus that is was not recognized or captured by the anti-virus tools on the market. Read More

YELLOWKNIFE, NWT – The Northwest Territories’ privacy commissioner says she will investigate what she calls a “major breach,” after CBC reported that a man found hundreds of confidential medical records at a dump. Read More

HALIFAX – A proposed settlement worth approximately $400,000 has been reached in a Nova Scotia class-action lawsuit concerning the improper access of patient information by an employee of the former Capital District Health Authority, according to a law firm involved in the case. Read More

HALIFAX – Nova Scotia’s privacy commissioner has described the response by the province’s Health Minister to her report about a pharmacist snooping through the personal health information of 46 people as disappointing, saying that she feels the department is not taking the issue seriously. Read More

REGINA – Saskatchewan’s information and privacy commissioner, Ron Kruzeniski, is recommending that a doctor who altered the electronic record eight times after a patient’s death do a better job at keeping medical records. Read More

OTTAWA - The Ottawa Hospital discovered that the records of 30 patients were improperly accessed in 2018. The breach was discovered during a routine privacy check earlier this year. Among those patients are members of the family of late Ottawa philanthropist and businessman Peter Foustanellas, for whom an endocrine and diabetes centre at the hospital and an auditorium at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute are named. Read More

HALIFAX – Nova Scotia’s privacy commissioner says she’s shocked by how a grocery-store pharmacist was able to snoop into the electronic personal health information of dozens of people she knew. Privacy commissioner Catherine Tully warns the breach is indicative of a wider national problem – and demonstrates the “real and present danger” of intrusion into patients’ private lives. “This is a pharmacist, a professional with ethical obligations,” Tully told the Canadian Press. Read More

EDMONTON – A registered nurse in Fox Creek, located 259 km northwest of Edmonton, has been fined $3,000 after pleading guilty to accessing health information of two people over three years, says Alberta Health Services. Jasmine Badger, a nurse at the Fox Creek Healthcare Centre, pleaded guilty to accessing health information in contravention of the Health Information Act (HIA) and received a $3,000 fine, plus a victim fine surcharge of 30 percent of the imposed fine, said AHS in a news release. Read More

TORONTO – Thieves who obtained the detailed medical histories and contact information of possibly tens of thousands of home-care patients in Ontario are demanding a ransom from CarePartners, the organization from which the data was taken. CBC News says it was contacted by the thieves and sent a sample of the data that was allegedly accessed. Read More

OTTAWA – A laptop stolen from a locked vehicle in Ottawa contained healthcare information about more than 33,000 N.W.T. residents, according to the territory’s health department. The laptop held data on patients and their health histories. It was stolen on May 9, CBC News reported. Read More