Privacy & Security

VICTORIA – Vancouver Island’s health authority says it has fired two employees who looked at more than 100 patients’ private healthcare records to satisfy their curiosity. Island Health says the employees looked at 112 electronic health records of patients with whom they had no care relationship. Read More

TORONTO – Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, a leading academic health sciences centre affiliated with the University of Toronto and one of Canada’s largest trauma and acute care hospitals, and HIPAAT Inc., a leading provider of consent management and auditing solutions for healthcare, have announced the successful go-live of HIPAAT’s privacy service supporting SunnyCare. Read More

WINNIPEG – Manitoba Health is investigating the case of a former employee who inappropriately accessed the personal health information of at least 13 people. The violation of the Personal Health Information Act involved the province’s Drug Programs Information Network (DPIN) computer system, said Bernadette Preun (pictured), assistant deputy minister of provincial policy and programs with Manitoba Health, Healthy Living and Seniors. Read More

LETHBRIDGE, Alta. – An unencrypted laptop computer containing the health information of 5,000 patients with sleep disorders was stolen in October from an Alberta Health Services clinic. Earlier this year, the Alberta government was embarrassed to learn that a laptop computer containing 620,000 patient records was stolen from Medicentres, a chain of private clinics. Read More

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