Privacy-breach discipline against 24 of 48 health-care workers withdrawn

Half of the 48 health-care workerswho were disciplined for allegedly accessing personal healthinformation surrounding the case of adying mother andthe daughter she murdered have seen the disciplinary actions against them dropped, according to their union.

That includes one employee who was initially fired, along with 23 otherswho received less stringent discipline,the United Nurses of Alberta (UNA) states in a Decembernewsletter to members.

"We are gratified but not surprised by this outcome and pleased AHS [Alberta Health Services]has committed to learning from its actions in this situation,"UNA labour relations director DavidHarrigansays in the newsletter.

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The affected employees, who all worked in the South Health Campus emergency department,will have letters of discipline removed from their personnel files and be reimbursed for lost wages, according to the union.

Details of the incident havebeen shrouded by confidentiality policies, with both AHS and UNA members saying little publicly about the breach.

Confidential AHS briefing notes unearthed by CBC News through a freedom of information request show that officials investigated 160 cases of health workers allegedly accessing"current and deceased" patientrecords.

The initial investigation found that "48 Calgary Zone employees inappropriately accessed patient information," according to those notes, which also detailed howAHS officials initiallydecided not to notify the patient whose information had been accessed.

But the family did find out about the breach in time, according toBrian vanVliet, who confirmed to CBC Newsthat it was his sister, Christine Hagan, who was at the centre of the privacy breach.

Diagnosed with stage 4pancreatic cancer in May and knowing she had little time left to live, Christinegave her daughter Jessica, 19, who had Down syndrome, a lethal dose of drugs in September.

Christine was kept in medical custodyuntil her death on Nov. 21and police announced afterward thatJessica's death had been deemed a homicide but no charges would be laid.

AHS explanation

In a statement, AHS said the decision came after further investigationand grievance-resolution meetings with UNA, as well as meetings withthe Alberta Union of Provincial Employees (AUPE) that found "additional patient privacy education is required for employees."

"This investigation has shown us that we need to more clearly define for employees appropriate practices for accessing patient information,"BrendaHuband, the chief health operations officer for AHS in the region, said in thestatement.

"We will launch further education and training to ensure staff understand their obligations related to patient privacy so patients can remain confident their health information is being accessed appropriately."

AHS noted that the disciplinary action remains in place for employees who "clearly had no professional reason" to access the patient information in this case.

Opposition reaction

Wildrose health critic Drew Barnes said this incident is just the latest to display "a lack of transparency" at AHS.

"The privacy commissioner said that health information violations are at epidemic proportions in Alberta Health Services," he said.

"And now we have Alberta Health Services just letting the sanctions be quietly withdrawn and our New Democrat government doing nothing about it, hiding behind Alberta Health Services like the PCs used to do."

Barnes said Albertans deserve "some openness to actually what happened" in this incident, and others.

"Let'sensure that, yeah, our good,front-line workers are protected, but lets ensure that fourmillion Albertans' important health care information and privacy is protected as well," he said.