Edmonton medical clinic employee fined after admitting to health data breaches
CBC News | Posted: October 3, 2019 4:56 PM | Last Updated: October 3, 2019
Former medical office assistant fined $3,500 for accessing personal health info of 2 patients
A medical office assistant in Edmonton has been fined $3,500 for knowingly accessing the health information of two people, the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner said in a news release Thursday.
Glenda Garcia pleaded guilty in provincial court on Sept. 26 to accessing the health records without a valid purpose under the Health Information Act on numerous occasions at the Terwillegar Family Clinic where she was employed.
"Ms. Garcia made suspicious statements to the two individuals about personal medical details," the release said.
The statements prompted the two individuals to request access to their audit logs in the provincial electronic health record system. They then filed complaints with the privacy commissioner.
After an investigation, Garcia was charged in March.
Garcia was fined $3,500 and ordered to pay a victim surcharge of $525.
This is the third time this year someone has been convicted of illegally accessing health information, the release said.
There have been 12 such convictions since 2001.