Possible privacy breach at Pickering long-term care home: Ontario minister
Posted May 9, 2020 11:19 pm.
Last Updated May 9, 2020 11:24 pm.
A Pickering long-term care home may have possibly suffered a significant data breach.
Dr. Merrilee Fullerton, Ontario’s Minister of Long-term Care, reported the incident on her Twitter account Saturday.
“I’m learning of disturbing news out of Pickering’s Orchard Villa LTC home,” she said in the Tweet. “There is a possibility of a significant privacy breach regarding individual resident personal health info. My heart goes out to the residents and families, during what is already a very difficult time.”
I’m learning of disturbing news out of Pickering’s Orchard Villa LTC home. There is a possibility of a significant privacy breach regarding individual resident personal health info. My heart goes out to the residents and families, during what is already a very difficult time. 1/3
— Dr. Merrilee Fullerton (@Dr_M_Fullerton) May 9, 2020
Fullerton said the government “takes personal privacy very seriously,” and “Orchard Villa has informed the Information Privacy Commissioner Office and other authorities as appropriate.”
Like some other long-term care homes in the GTA, the facility has seen a large number of resident deaths due to COVID-19, with 65 deaths as of Thursday.
The Canadian Armed Forces have recently assigned staff to the facility to help manage the outbreak.
CityNews reached out to Orchard Villa for comment and will update this article with any responses we receive.
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