A major Hamilton hospital network has reported 11 privacy breaches, including five involving “snooping,” to the Ontario watchdog this year alone.
The most recent case, revealed this week, resulted in Hamilton Health Sciences (HHS) firing eight employees for looking through personal health information of some 4,000 patients over 12 months. The Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario (IPC) said it’s investigating this case as well as “any systemic issues that may be at the root of it.”
HHS has reported another 10 privacy breach cases to the IPC in 2023, the IPC confirmed to CBC Hamilton. Four of those cases also involved employees snooping or looking at records out of curiosity. The IPC did not provide details about the other six cases.
Of the four other snooping cases, half are still being investigated and half are completed, said HHS spokesperson Wendy Stewart. So far, two employees have been terminated and 42 patients whose records were looked at were notified.
To prevent privacy breaches, HHS does monthly system audits, Stewart said.
As well, all staff, including doctors and students, are trained on “their responsibility to safeguard patient health information,” she said.
HHS reported an additional 23 privacy breaches in 2022. IPC said it dealt with all of them in the “early resolution stage,” which means they weren’t investigated either because they didn’t fall within IPC’s jurisdiction or the parties reached an informal settlement.
Patient left with unanswered questions
Patient Roch Longueépée, 53, received a letter from HHS on Tuesday that informed him of the most recent privacy breach detected in April. However, it’s left him with more questions than answers — who accessed his patient records and why?
“The letter they’ve sent me is unacceptable and I will be demanding more information,” said Longueépée, a Kitchener resident.
“My trust is compromised
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