WhatFinger


The issue is whether past, present and future patients of the hospital can be assured their health records will remain confidential

Hospital’s response to breach of Mayor Ford’s privacy rights disgusting



The day after Toronto Mayor Rob Ford was hospitalized after suffering severe abdominal pains, he was transferred to Mount Sinai Hospital. It was there it was discovered the large tumour in his abdomen was cancerous. After this diagnosis was made, Ford withdrew from the mayor’s race and was replaced by his brother, Doug. The mayor registered to run as a councillor in Ward 2, the ward he served as councillor for 10 years before being elected mayor. Since 2010, that area has been represented by Doug Ford.
On Thursday, after Ford had completed a second round of chemotherapy, the hospital issued a media release saying the mayor’s privacy was breached. Two employees who had no right to see his medical records had improperly accessed them and had been dealt with by the hospital “appropriately.” Speaking of appropriately, it hardly an appropriate response for a publicly funded hospital to release so few details. No further information was released due to “privacy concerns,” an irony not lost on many people. It is perhaps understandable the names of the culprits have not been released due to the hospital considering it to be an employment matter. But there is no excuse for keeping other details secret from the public who by and large pay their salaries. Ford had been told of the privacy breach and was reported not to be overly concerned about it. This makes sense in light of the fact that his lead doctor, Dr. Zane Cohen, held a press conference about the mayor’s condition and other medical facts of Ford’s illness had been released to the public. This, of course, was all done with the mayor’s consent. Ford, who generally avoids the media has been open about his cancer and how he is feeling and has even released information his doctors haven’t. Although Cohen refused to answer the media’s questions concerning the mayor’s prognosis, Ford told the media he has a 50/50 chance of beating the cancer. It is also understandable that Ford, who has endured more media scrutiny than probably anyone else in Canada ever has, would hardly be upset over the fact that some hospital employees gained access to more information about his condition. The fact he was able to soldier on after the crack scandal emerged would make it highly unlikely this would be a major problem for him.

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But Ford’s reaction to what happened is not the issue. The issue is whether past, present and future patients of the hospital can be assured their health records will remain confidential. It does not help that the hospital will not say if these two employees have been dismissed or are still employed and in positions to again improperly access patients’ records. The public was also not informed of what types of jobs these people held. Were they doctors or nurses, members of professional bodies in Ontario and the hospital is intent in shielding them from disciplinary action. Or were they clerical workers or other non-professionals? Will these two employees face charges? We don’t know; Mount Sinai refuses to tell us. Under section 72(1) of the provincial Personal Health Information Protection Act, it is an offence to wilfully collect, use or disclose personal health information in contravention of the Act. The maximum punishment for individuals is a $50,000 fine. A serious concern is the purpose of why this information was being looked at in the first place. Were these employees simply curious about learning more about the most famous mayor in the history of civilization, or were they hoping to profit from the information in Ford’s medical files? The Toronto Star in particular has no problem with paying for information if it can be used to damage Ford. The newspaper had no qualms about paying drug dealers (or as the overly politically Star called them, “Somali drug dealers”) for the video purporting to show the mayor smoking crack with a couple of gangbangers (or disadvantaged youth if you prefer). In the end, the paper did not purchase the video because they were unwilling to meet the purported sellers’ demands of $100,000. Had the amount been just a couple of thousand dollars, they likely would have paid the dealers and obtained the video. The dealers could have put that money to good use buying crack and guns and stuff. As the joke says, the newspaper made their position clear; they were just haggling over the price. This is not Mount Sinai’s first incident of breaching patient confidentiality. Last August, it was revealed Mount Sinai was one of six hospitals alleged to have breached the privacy of new mothers by handing over some of their personal information to baby photographers, for a fee of course. Unless and until the hospital agrees to provide the pubic with more information about the breach concerning Ford, people should be wary of voluntarily seeking treatment there or donating to the hospital. It remains to be seen whether the Attorney General will take action under the legislation.


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Arthur Weinreb -- Bio and Archives

Arthur Weinreb is an author, columnist and Associate Editor of Canada Free Press. Arthur’s latest book, Ford Nation: Why hundreds of thousands of Torontonians supported their conservative crack-smoking mayor is available at Amazon. Racism and the Death of Trayvon Martin is also available at Smashwords. His work has appeared on Newsmax.com,  Drudge Report, Foxnews.com.

Older articles (2007) by Arthur Weinreb


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