> PRINT, COPY, SHRED: HOW IT WORKED

Rouge Valley Hospital didn’t track which employees accessed which patient files in their computer system, according to an affidavit sworn by Wayne Vanderlaan, a peace officer with the Ontario Securities Commission. This appears to be what allowed clerk Shaida Bandali, who worked there from 1995 until last year, to allegedly sell the contact information for new mothers to two RESP brokers for almost five years. All details in this story come from an Information to Obtain, used by police to ask for search warrants. None of the allegations in the ITO have been proven. The ITO alleges that when police interviewed Bandali, she said simply: “I admit, I did it.” The ITO states she told investigators that she met Poly Edry when she bought an RESP for her daughter. Edry then allegedly offered her $1 per name if she would steal patient contacts from the hospital. Bandali allegedly agreed and began printing patient records, copying them out by hand and then shredding the printed pages. The ITO alleges Bandali would meet Edry in the hospital parking lot, where she’d hand over the lists. Edry paid cash or with a cheque. Edry allegedly told Bandali she wanted the baby’s gender, date of birth, address and phone number as well as the parents’ names. She also specified that she didn’t want any parents who lived in apartments, in Scarborough or in Markham, according to the ITO. It states Bandali was only discovered when she accidentally left patient records in the office printer, which were then discovered by a superior. Unlike the anonymous computer system, the printouts displayed who had printed them for anyone to see.