Brampton Civic Hospital employee used private patient information to get opioids

By News Staff

A hospital employee at Brampton Civic Hospital allegedly used the private information of a hospital day surgery patient to obtain narcotics, which were then never given to the patient.

A CityNews viewer shared her correspondence letter with the hospital in August of this year informing her of the privacy breach. The letter says her “personal health information was inappropriately used by a hospital employee within Brampton Civic Hospital in order to access narcotics (Percocet) for non-hospital related use,” and which were “never given to you.”

The hospital also says that the employee selected the patient’s personal information in a device used to dispense the medication. No other private information for the patient was shared or used in another situation.

CityNews has reached out to William Osler Health System who provided the following statement:

“As of August 2, 2017 Osler had notified all 11,358 patients affected over a number of years and concluded its internal investigation into an isolated incident of a former hospital employee who stole medication for non-hospital use. Osler has improved on its already strong protective processes by implementing more frequent, proactive audits of our medication dispensing system, as well as placing stronger controls on individuals’ access.”


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EXCLUSIVE INVESTIGATION: ‘Unexplained losses’ of opioids on the rise in Canadian hospitals


Last week, a CityNews investigation revealed the staggering losses of opioids from Ontario hospitals that are not accounted for, and simply go missing unexplained.  When asked about these reports, Health Minister Eric Hoskins says thanks to CityNews’ investigation he is now taking steps to strengthen the control of safeguards hospital have to follow to ensure the security of these drugs.

“I’m always concerned when I see incidents of controlled drugs that potentially make their way into hands of individuals that could abuse them either through sale or use,” he said. “Particularly, in the context of our opioid crisis, I think it becomes a more important question.”

 

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