An Alberta pharmacist who pleaded guilty to accessing health information unnecessarily has been given a six-month conditional sentence.
In October 2014, the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner (OIPC) was alerted by Covenant Health about an information breach contrary to the Health Information Act (HIA).
The investigation showed there was unauthorized access to 104 patients’ information. Details accessed included demographic information, diagnostic images and laboratory results. A release issued on Wednesday by the Alberta government said the information was accessed “despite no formal patient-pharmacist relationship with the affected individuals.”
Basel Alsaadi’s sentence includes three months of house arrest with some exceptions (the details of which were not outlined in the news release) then three months of a court-imposed curfew. He was also ordered to complete 20 hours of community service.
“The court in these types of offences is concerned with sending a message to not only Mr. Alsaadi, but any others that patient information is very important and privacy rights are extremely important in a modern society,” Justice Belzil said at sentencing.
According to Alsaadi’s Linked in profile, he was a pharmacist at the Grey Nuns Hospital in Edmonton at the time of the breach. The news release said he later resigned before October 2014.
There is currently one other HIA matter before the courts. Alsaadi’s conviction is the eighth since HIA was enacted in 2001.