Post by Rick (Admin) on Feb 25, 2013 13:23:16 GMT -5
Nurse faces privacy charges
NORTH BAY - A registered nurse is facing several charges of violating patient privacy while she was on staff at the North Bay Regional Health Centre.
Melissa McLellan is charged with nine counts under Ontario's Personal Health Information Protection Act for wrongly collecting private patient data.
McLellan also faces a disciplinary hearing with the College of Nurses of Ontario. She's accused of committing professional misconduct between September 2005 and April 2011 by breaching the standards of practice in nursing and engaging in disgraceful, dishonourable or unprofessional conduct by accessing personal health information of about 5,800 patients without consent or having a professional reason to do so, according to the college website.
McLellan no longer works at the North Bay Regional Health Centre and is listed as a staff member at the Isabelle Nursing Home in Trout Creek.
There are currently no restrictions on her ability to practise as a nurse.
Prosecutor Deanna Exner, on behalf of the Ministry of Health and Long-term Care, told a North Bay court on Friday about a string of e-mail contacts with McLellan's lawyer in an effort to set a trial date for the charges.
The defence responded with e-mails requesting document disclosure.
Court heard the defence will likely file a motion claiming McLellan's rights were violated by the length of time it's taking to bring the charges to trial, and a second motion would argue “selective prosecution” that the nurse was singled out.
The next court date for those charges is March 1.
North Bay Regional Health Centre sent out letters in 2011 informing patients affected by the breach that the nurse maintains the information was never shared.
“We take our role of safeguarding your personal information very seriously," the letter said.
“We have provided a memo to all staff reminding them of their responsibility as it relates to the privacy of health information. We are also improving our secure access to personal health information and providing more frequent education for employees. In addition we are changing our auditing processes and reports to ensure that this kind of breach cannot be undetected in the future."
The hospital said the breach was discovered during a privacy audit.
www.nugget.ca/2013/02/25/nurse-faces-privacy-charges