A North Bay area nurse who faced charges stemming from unlawfully going through nearly 6,000 patient records at the North Bay Regional Health Centre had her charges dropped recently.
A Toronto Star report Monday states that North Bay Regional Health Centre nurse Melissa McLellan was accused of illegally accessing 5,804 patient records, which included information about overdoses, suicide attempts, marriage issues and psychotic episodes.
However, the report states that the charges were dropped because of a 16-month delay which the court says was attributed to the Crown prosecutors not moving quickly enough with the case.
“The delay that I have attributed to the Crown of 16 months and 10 days is beyond the constitutionally tolerable guidelines of 8 to 10 months,” stated Justice of the Peace Lauren Scully in the Star article.
The North Bay Regional Health Centre would not comment or react to the McLellan ruling.
"The hospital will not comment on any specifics of the prosecution, or any litigation that has occurred between the parties involved," Hospital officials stated in an email to BayToday.ca Monday morning.
However, the hospital stresses that private health information is a priority and is well protected in the facility.
"As soon as the hospital became aware of the privacy breach relating to personal health information by a staff member in 2011, patients and the public were notified," the hospital said in a statement.
"The hospital notified the Privacy Commissioner and co-operated fully with the investigation, including the prosecution. Once the hospital learned of the privacy breaches it reviewed its privacy policies and procedures to improve its protection of patient's private health information."
McLellan was the first person ever prosecuted under Ontario’s health privacy law. If found guilty she could have faced a fine of up to $50,000. If found guilty McLellan would have been the first person convicted under the Personal Health Information Protection Act which came into place in Ontario back in 2004.
McLellan, who was fired from the North Bay hospital in May of 2011 after the findings, is now working at a nursing home in Trout Creek according to the Star.
To go to the entire Toronto Star article go here: http://www.thestar.com/life/health_wellness/2015/03/30/ontarios-sole-health-privacy-prosecution-quietly-dismissed.html
