Patients' records faxed to wrong numbers

A Winnipeg man's fax machine is receiving other people's confidential health records by mistake.

Jeremy Peters-Fransen has received a dozen faxes from St. Boniface Hospital over the past eight months, detailing information about patients' heart and liver conditions, among other things.

It appears the documents are meant for someone at the Health Sciences Centre, Peters-Fransen said.

He notified the hospital and tried to get them to stop sending him the faxes but they continue to arrive.

'I gave him a copy of his own medical records and asked him to complain for me. I thought that might be more effective.' Jeremy Peters-Fransen

Most of the records are about people he doesn't know, but one fax contained the personal records of an acquaintance.

"[They belonged to] someone I knew who I'd gone to university with and lived in the same building with," Peters-Fransen said.

"I gave him a copy of his own medical records and asked him to complain for me. I thought that might be more effective."

A spokesperson from the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority (WRHA) said the fax number in question used to belong to a doctor and is still posted on several websites.

The WRHA has offered to destroy the documents for Peters-Fransen and has also offered to pay to have his fax number changed.

Peters-Fransen is considering the change in fax number but says it would be an inconvenience because he's had it for five years and would have to notify a number of people.

He's most upset with the reaction he received when he called one of the phone numbers belonging to the hospital where the fax originated.

The person who answered didn't seem too concerned about the confidential information being misdirected, Peters-Fransen said.

Winnipeg woman alsoreceiving wayward faxes

Peters-Fransen is not the only one getting wayward faxes containing patients' medical history.

Susan Cameron started receiving similar documents more than two years ago and the information in them was so detailed it could have allowed to her to steal patients' identities.

The documents were coming in so often and at all hours that it was disrupting her life, waking her up at night. She finally disconnected the machine.

The WRHA has also offered to change her phone number.

But Cameron said it is obvious the problem isn't an isolated one and patient privacy is at risk.