Privacy breach at Island Health leads to dismissals

Vancouver Island's health authority says it has fired two employees who looked at more than 100 patients' private health care 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.

The health authority is apologizing to those affected by the privacy breach after its investigation concluded yesterday, said Dr. Mary Lyn Fyfe, chief medical information officer for Island Health.

“It is extremely disappointing and completely unacceptable that staff members would breach a patient’s right to privacy, and it is a total violation of the confidentiality acknowledgement that must be signed by each of our employees and physician partners,” said Fyfe.

“It also violates the trust people place in us. First and foremost, we sincerely apologize to those directly impacted by this, but we also apologize to all our clients, patients and residents.”