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City man receives hundreds of patient records in error Patient info intended for medical clinic repeatedly sent to home fax machine Daniel Palmer News staff
A Victoria man is fed up after receiving at least 200 faxes that contain private patient information to his personal fax machine. David Mason said medical imaging requests that contain full names, birth dates, phone numbers, addresses, personal health numbers and doctors’ names of patients have been sent in error to his home for nearly a decade. Two of those documents con“The only positive aspect tained patient information of 111 people, of all of this is that the he said. “Almost all these faxes came to me and not forms are to do to somebody with malicious with breast imaging intent.” and many of them are time-sensitive,” – David Mason Mason said. One digit separates Mason’s fax number from that of a well-used medical imaging clinic in Victoria. Privacy guidelines established by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of B.C. require physicians’ offices to include a cover sheet with clear instructions to contact the sender if the fax is received in error, said Susan Prins, the college’s communications director. The college instructs doctors to investigate any privacy breach, contact affected patients in most scenarios and develop long-term safeguards to ensure breaches don’t reoccur. Mason, a retired B.C. government records researcher who dealt with Freedom of Information requests daily, said he always follows up with senders but that some medical office staff seem lackadaisical about the seriousness of the privacy violation. “The proper procedure is that the fax number is pre-programmed to avoid misdialing,” he said. Don Denton/News staff
PlEASE SEE: Misdirected faxes, Page A4
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David Mason holds up a medical record, now with concealed details, that he received on his home fax machine.
Teachers vote in favour of strike action B.C. public school teachers have voted 89 per cent to give their union authority for strike action in three stages. B.C. Teachers’ Federation president Jim Iker said there is no set schedule on when work-to-rule action would begin. “There will be no job action tomorrow; there will be no job action next week,” Iker said after the vote results were tabulated. “It will depend entirely on what is happening at the negotiating table and whether or not the government and the employers’ association are prepared to be fair and reasonable.” After a year of bargaining sessions with an expired contract, the BCTF still has not presented a specific wage and benefit demand. Education Minister Peter Fassbender urged the union to present its opening position as negotiation sessions resumed last week. Union members were briefed before the vote on the initial wage offer delivered by Peter Cameron, chief negotiator for B.C.’s 60 school districts. It describes pay increases totalling 6.5 per cent over six years. Fassbender reiterated that class size and composition are up for negotiation as well as wages and benefits. More than 29,000 teachers voted, with 26,000 saying yes to the strike option that can be activated on 72 hours’ notice for 90 days. editor@vicnews.com
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