Newfoundland lays charges against health district employees for record snooping

Charges have been laid in Newfoundland against two individuals employed by separate health districts related to inappropriate and unauthorized access to patient information. I have to say I'm happy to see how seriously many privacy regulators take these sorts of intrusive and unjustified invasions of individual privacy. I'm also happy to see that they are "former employees".

VOCM.COM|Charges Laid in Hospital Privacy Breaches | Article.

The Information and Privacy Commissioner says two people have been charged with offences under the Personal Health Information Act. Two former employees at Eastern Health and Western Health have been charged.

The two individuals are alleged to have improperly accessed the personal health information of a number of patients. The charges are the result of two separate investigations by staff of the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner stemming from complaints received in 2012. Both health authorities alerted Commissioner Ed Ring about the privacy breaches when they were discovered. Patients affected by the breaches were contacted by Eastern and Western Health. Audits of electronic medical records were conducted by the boards, and the two separate investigations by the commissioner's staff confirmed that charges are warranted under the Personal Health Information Act. The first appearance involving the former worker at Eastern Health is May 3 in St. John's, and the former employee at Western Health will make a first appearance on May 28 in Corner Brook.