BOSTON (AP) — A subsidiary of health care company Johnson & Johnson has agreed to pay nearly $10 million to settle allegations that it violated federal and state law by providing free products to a surgeon to induce him to use its products in procedures, prosecutors said Friday. Under the settlement with DePuy Synthes, the […]

HALIFAX — The head of emergency medicine for Halifax and the surrounding area says ERs are under the most extreme pressure that he’s seen in his 23-year career, and he says it’s taking a toll on patients and health-care workers. Emergency medicine is in a state of “crisis” amid a shortage of nurses, physicians and […]

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to consider what employers must do to accommodate religious employees, among eight new cases it added. The cases are expected to be argued in April. In one involving a former postal employee, the justices will consider what accommodations employers must make for religious employees. The case […]

HALIFAX — Nova Scotia’s Justice Department said Tuesday it won’t pursue legal action against a politician who posted information about a woman who died in hospital after a seven-hour wait for a doctor. The department sent an email Friday to Elizabeth Smith-McCrossin, the Independent member for Cumberland North, advising her to take down a letter […]

Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children says it is aware of an online statement from a ransomware group that offers a decryptor to restore systems impacted by a mid-December cybersecurity incident. Canada’s largest pediatric health-care centre says in a news release issued Sunday evening that the statement includes “an offer of a free decryptor” after some […]

TORONTO, Ohio — A ransomware attack has delayed lab and imaging results at Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children and could lead to longer wait times, the hospital said Thursday, noting that some of its systems could be offline for weeks. The hospital said it was unable to provide details about the nature of the attack, […]

JERUSALEM (AP) — Majd Ramlawi was serving coffee in Jerusalem’s Old City when a chilling text message appeared on his phone. “You have been spotted as having participated in acts of violence in the Al-Aqsa Mosque,” it read in Arabic. “We will hold you accountable.” Ramlawi, then 19, was among hundreds of people who civil […]

TORONTO — Some phone lines and internal clinical systems at Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children have been affected by a “cybersecurity incident,” but the hospital says there’s no indication personal health information has been compromised. Canada’s largest pediatric health-care centre said a Code Grey — the hospital code for system failure — was called Sunday […]

Provincial health officials haven’t done enough to protect British Columbians’ personal health information from abuse and hacking despite knowing about vulnerabilities for years, a new investigation from the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner has found. A 2019 internal risk assessment found the Provincial Public Health Information System, run by the Provincial Health Services Authority, lacked […]

YELLOWKNIFE — A privacy breach affecting people who stayed at a COVID-19 isolation centre is the latest in a long line of cases of health information being mishandled in the Northwest Territories. Late last week, the N.W.T. Department of Health and Social Services issued notice of the “low-risk” breach involving about 2,000 COVID-19 isolation forms, […]

VICTORIA — Sensitive personal health records of British Columbia residents, from mental health to sexually transmitted disease histories, are “disturbingly” vulnerable to leaks, the provincial privacy watchdog says. Information and privacy commissioner Michael McEvoy says in a report released by his office Thursday that security gaps in the public health computer system put it at […]

LAMONT, Alta. — An Alberta health-care worker has been sentenced for taking and sharing photos of long-term care residents, including one that was distorted with a filter. The Lamont Health Care Centre reported the matter to the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner, which laid charges last year under the province’s Health Information Act. The […]