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Thessalon First Nation’s government has responded to allegations that a community nurse accessed residents’ medical information without their consent, stating these claims “have not been proven.”
This message was posted to TFN’s official Facebook page late Friday afternoon, where officials provided a brief timeline of how they were informed of this alleged incident.
According to this post, representatives from the Maamwesying North Shore Community Health Services contacted TFN officials about this alleged privacy breach on March 14.
Within this piece of correspondence, Maamwesying officials said, according to TFN, that they had filed complaints with Ontario’s Privacy Commissioner and the College of Nurses.
On March 15, TFN officials said they asked Maamwesying to share its investigation report. TFN claims the health agency has not provided any proof of its investigation as of yet.
“A fair and transparent investigation must first take place and its results shared with Thessalon before any action is taken,” TFN’s statement read.
“Thessalon First Nation can only complete its investigation into the allegations against our employee if Maamwesying provided us with their investigation results. Thessalon cannot access Maamwesying’s systems to conduct a file audit. We require both sides of the story.”
The Sault Star attempted to reach out to Maamwesying for comment but did not receive a response by 6 p.m. Friday.
However, The Star did speak with Maamwesying chief privacy officer Michelle Brisbois about this alleged information breach back in late March after receiving several letters from TFN residents.
Within these letters to clients, Brisbois alleges that the community health nurse viewed their medical records even though they “did not have a legitimate reason” to do so, as they were “not providing care” to that specific person at the time.
“Please be reassured that there is no indication your personal health information (meaning your diagnoses, test results, clinical notes, address or contact information) was shared with anyone else,” Brisbois wrote.
“The community staff member has confirmed that no copies were made and that your health record was not altered or removed from the building. (The staff member) no longer has access to Maamwesying North Shore Community Health Services Electronic Medical Record.”
Brisbois told The Star this privacy breach involved at least 20 people, whose medical information was improperly accessed between October and January.
The Star also talked with TFN resident Jaime Lanteigne, whose medical record was accessed on Dec. 18 according to the letter she received from Maamwesying.
Lanteigne said she was “really upset” when she received word of the nurse’s alleged actions and has submitted a formal complaint to the College of Nurses of Ontario.
Meanwhile, Brisbois said Maamwesying is making some “concrete changes” to prevent the possibility of a mass privacy breach from happening again.
“In the future, we will continue to focus on ongoing staff and community privacy training as a priority,” Brisbois wrote in her letter to clients. “We will also continue privacy audits of our electronic medical records system to ensure we are notified of any unusual activity in patient files.”
kdarbyson@postmedia.com
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