BC Opt Out News
November 20, 2009: New Democrat health critic Adrian Dix is asking B.C.’s privacy commissioner to review a release of private medical information of 77 Interior Health patients. The health authority informed patients in October of a breach of confidential information. A health authority pathologist posted records, including age and care card numbers, of the patients as part of a teaching assignment with the Canadian Association of Pathologists. The records were intended to be posted to an internal website but were publicly available for several months. “I’m asking him (privacy commissioner David Loukidelis) to investigate this incident and standards at Interior Health Authority. This is not a small leak of personal information. It’s 77 people on a public website.” Patty Glaim, corporate director of risk management for Interior Health, said the agency has taken full responsibility for the incident. It sent a letter out today offering to pay for a fraud monitoring service for one year to ensure the information was not misused. Interior Health also informed the privacy commissioner, as is required by the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act. Glaim said the physician should have sent records needed for teaching to IHA’s health records department, where personal information would be stripped out. Dix said the incident is alarming as B.C. moves toward greater electronic storage of patient information. |