Alberta nurse fined for snooping in patients' health information

A registered nurse in northwestern Alberta who looked at two people's private health information without authorization has been fined nearly $4,000.

Jasmine Badger pleaded guilty June 25 to accessing health information in contravention of the Health Information Act. She was ordered to pay a $3,000 fine and a $900 victim fine surcharge.

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The Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner issued a news release Friday about the case.

Itmarked the ninth conviction since the Health Information Act was enacted in 2001, and the first time a victim fine surcharge had been imposed. The surcharges help pay for victim services, such as counselling.

The case began in 2016, when two people requested audit logs of accesses to their health information in Alberta Netcare, the provincial electronic health record.

After they reviewed their audit logs, they alleged that Badger, a nurse at the Fox Creek Healthcare Centre, had accessed their health information without authorization.

The patients filed complaints with OIPC in December 2016.

An investigation found Badger had accessed the health files a total of 138 times between April 1, 2013, and July 18, 2016.

However,there is a two-year limitation period under the Health Information Act. As a result, Badger pleaded guilty to fewer unauthorized accesses.

She pleaded guilty to accessing the health information of one of the individuals 35 times between Oct. 7, 2015, and July 18, 2016, and to eight unauthorized accesses ofthe second person's information between Nov. 1, 2015, and July 18, 2016.

The information included "medical profile, demographic information, consultation details, lab results or analysis including blood work, and diagnostic imaging results such as X-rays and MRI," the news release said.

Findings of the OIPC investigation were forwarded to Crown prosecutors. Charges against Badger were laid last October.

The Fox Creek Healthcare Centre is an Alberta Health Services facility.

Fox Creek is 260 kilometres northwest of Edmonton.