A community pharmacist in rural Canada has been suspended for six months and fined CAD$5000 after she was caught spying on the health records of dozens of people. A report released by the Information and Privacy Commissioner for Nova Scotia revealed the pharmacy manager was investigated late last year over a series of electronic privacy breaches. Commissioner Catherine Tully ruled the pharmacist had inappropriately accessed highly sensitive personal health information of 46 people over a two year period.
The pharmacist looked up the prescription history and medical conditions of her child’s girlfriend and parents, her child’s friends, teachers and former teachers, relatives, co-workers, a former high school classmate, and a person she had been involved in a car accident with. She also created false profiles to access the information and told her spouse about the health records, the report said.
