Canadian Case of Breach of Confidentiality Suit

Breach of Confidentiality
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Breach of Confidentiality
Unless there is an exception, everything a doctor discusses with a patient must remain private between the two and the organization involved. This is referred to as confidentiality. It is governed by a set of rules that put a limit on access to information concerning a patient. In Canada, healthcare professionals are required to maintain the confidentiality of the information of their patients (CMPA, n.d.). Confidentiality cuts across the board because apart from protecting the patients’ data from being misused, it allows physicians to establish robust relationships with their patients based on trust and effective communication (Maryville University, 2022). This ultimately helps in enhancing the quality of care provided. However, in some instances, a breach of confidentiality could occur. In such circumstances, the best strategy is for the involved patient to approach their physician and discuss the breach of privacy. If they fail to solve the issue to the satisfaction of the patient, they can seek legal redress, as shown in the case below.
Facts about the Case
Central Health Authority revealed that in July 2020, someone from outside the institution alerted them that an employee had shared patients' private information without authorization (Bob Buckingham Law, 2021). This prompted the authority to conduct internal investigations, which established the employee had indeed unlawfully accessed the online records of 240 patients between 2018 and 2020. To make matters worse, the employee had gone further and shared the information with the public. Following the findings, the institution’s CEO publicly admitted that the employee had engaged in a series of privacy breaches for two years. In many instances, the unlawful access involved the intrusion into the obstetric files of mothers and their newborn children. This sharply contrasted with the institution's policy statements on the website, which pledge to guarantee the protection of each patient’s private and confidential medical records and personal information. Further, the policies indicate that the institution has put stringent measures in place to ensure that no sharing of private information about patients takes place without their direct authorization. Following the humiliating debacle, the CEO assured the public that the institution had instituted appropriate measures to ensure that breaches of private information about patients did not get replicated in the future. For good measure, the CEO let slip that the offending employee was no longer working in the institution.
In a rejoinder, the patients whose confidentiality had undergone violation resolved to file a suit seeking damages for the consequences they incurred. Among other things, they suffered distress, anger, humiliation, and mental anguish (Bob Buckingham Law, 2021). By the same token, they expressed confusion as to why their private and confidential information was illegally accessed (Bradbury, 2021). The patients felt vulnerable for several reasons. First, they felt the time within which the privacy breaches a...