Privacy commissioner hopes fine will stop health-care snooping

Privacy Commissioner Ed Ring is satisfied with a fine that has been given to a former Eastern Health nurse who was caught red-handed looking at patient records she had not business seeing.

Colleen Stamp, formerly known as Colleen Weeks, was found guilty of accessing personal records 18 times over a 12-month period, and was fined $1,000 in provincial court on Thursday.

Ring said the fine sends an important message to health professionals who might misuse their access to patient's personal health information.

"When patients receive treatment in the health care system, they expect their information to be handled appropriately and professionally," Ring said in a statement.

Stamp, who had worked as a triage nurse at the Health Sciences Centre, was fired when the breaches were identified two years ago.

The privacy breach was discovered through an audit at Eastern Health.

This is the second sentence handed down under the province's Personal Health Information Act.

In September, Donna Colbourne, a former accounting clerk at Western Memorial Regional Hospital in Corner Brook, was fined $5,000 after obtaining personal health information on 75 different occasions.