TORONTO – More than 400 health-related privacy violation complaints were lodged with the Ontario Information and Privacy Commission in 2012, and then again in 2013. However, because Ontario hospitals are not legally obliged to notify authorities, thousands of violations could be going unreported every year, Ontario’s acting privacy commissioner, Brian Beamish (pictured), told the Toronto Star.
Read More
ST. JOHN’S, N.L. – A former Eastern Health nurse who illegally accessed patient records has been fined $1,000. Colleen Stamp (pictured), formerly known as Colleen Weeks, was fired from the province’s largest health authority in 2012 after an audit revealed she was one of 11 employees accused of illegally accessing patient records.
Read More
TORONTO – Mount Sinai Hospital has announced it is disciplining two staff members after they were caught taking a peek at the medical records for Mayor Rob Ford (pictured). “Two Mount Sinai staff members who are not part of the patient’s care team have inappropriately accessed his health record,” reads a statement circulated to media by the downtown hospital.
Read More
ST. JOHN’S, N.L. – A provincial court judge has brought down a guilty verdict in the case of a former nurse at Eastern Health accused of inappropriately accessing patient records.
Colleen Stamp (pictured), formerly Colleen Weeks, was fired from the province’s largest health authority in 2012 after an audit revealed she was one of 11 employees accused of illegally accessing patient records.
Read More
WINNIPEG – A laptop computer containing personal health information was recently stolen from an office of a doctor working in the Department of Internal Medicine within the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority. Personal health information from 322 patients was contained on the computer.
Read More
EDMONTON – An investigation by the Alberta privacy commissioner into the theft of a laptop containing details of nearly 622,000 Albertans, found that Medicentres Canada Inc. failed to protect patient privacy and was in contravention of the Health Information Act.
Read More
CORNER BROOK, Nfld and Labrador – A former employee with Western Health was fined earlier this month for a privacy breach at the hospital in Corner Brook. CBC News reported that Donna Colbourne accessed more than 1,000 patient files at Western Memorial Regional Hospital while working there as an accounting clerk until 2012.
Read More
ST. JOHN’S – A former nurse charged with improperly accessing the electronic records of patients told a courtroom that she didn’t break the rules. “I have never looked up anybody for any wrong reasons in my 10 years in emergency,” Colleen Weeks (pictured) told the provincial court.
Read More
CALGARY- Despite repeated alerts to Alberta Health Services, a Calgary business continues to receive private health information via fax. Scott Chisolm says his office fax machine has been receiving the sensitive records since 2008.
Read More
FRANKLIN, Tenn. – Community Health Systems, which operates 206 hospitals across the United States, announced this month that hackers recently broke into its computers and stole data on 4.5 million patients.
Read More