Woman upset medical records accessed
Eastern Health should have pursued charges, says ex-wife of fired nurse’s boyfriend
A ST. John’s woman whose medical records were inappropriately accessed by a recently-fired nurse with Eastern Health is disappointed the regional health authority is not pursuing criminal charges.
“I want justice,” said Tammy Taylor. “I want her charged, and I can’t get her charged.”
Taylor said she was contacted last week by Eastern Health about the breach.
She was told her medical records, demographic information and visitation history were accessed on Nov. 24, 2011.
“I really honestly feel I’ve been violated, and it seems to me that, unfortunately, I’m linked too close to this situation. It really upsets me a lot.”
Taylor said her ex-husband is the current boyfriend of Colleen Weeks, a former Eastern Health nurse who was fired last week for inappropriately accessing the medical records of more than 100 patients.
Weeks told CBC News last week that she did nothing wrong accessing the medical records.
In a statement released to media, Eastern Health said “at this point in time,” it is “not pursuing legal action against individuals who have inappropriately accessed a patient’s personal health information.”
What caused the most concern for Taylor was the fact her medical records were accessed by Weeks.
“Why would she do this? What was the pur-- pose of it? Where did she go with my information?”
Thus far, Taylor has no answers to those questions.
Met with ex-husband
Taylor is not the only member of her family whose information was inappropriately accessed. She said her brother has also been contacted by Eastern Health on the same matter. He is scheduled to meet with staff from the regional health authority today.
Five days before Eastern Health announced it had fired five people because of privacy breaches, Taylor said, she met with her ex-husband at his request and was told if anyone contacted her with questions about Weeks, she should deny knowing her.
“I said, ‘Why, what’s on the go? What’s wrong?’ At that point, nobody told me Colleen was looking in my files.”
Taylor met with victim services at St. John’s provincial court Monday morning to discuss the option of filing a civil suit in relation to the privacy breach, but said she was told it is unlikely legal aid will take on such a matter. Taylor said she cannot otherwise afford legal representation.
Last week, Eastern Health said it terminated five employees as the result of breaches in confidentiality.
Another confidentiality breach occurred in March when patients’ personal information was exposed as the result of medical waste falling from the back of a transport truck.