Belleville nurse terminated after allegedly violating privacy

A nurse at Belleville General Hospital has been terminated for allegedly violating patient privacy.

A routine audit check done at Belleville General Hospital is what alerted authorities to the privacy breach.

This past September, the hospital conducted a random check on staff browsing history. What they found was concerning.

A long-term employee serving as a nurse had looked through hundreds of digital files from patients she had never cared for.

Global News spoke to Carol Smith Romeril, the vice-president of Belleville General hospital and she says, “I’m really sorry that it happened, I’m disappointed that it happened because we spend a lot of time and energy talking to staff and making sure they’re all very clear on the expectations.”

She hopes to regain the trust of the Belleville community. The nurse was terminated within days of the audit.

Belleville residents say they have mixed feelings about the incident.

This random audit check done in September only looked back at about six months of the nurse’s browsing history.

Global News asked Romeril how long this was going on for but she couldn’t reveal that information because the investigation is still in progress.

She said she’s confident that “none of the records were copied or downloaded to print or sent anywhere else.”

Since there was no criminal intent in the case, Belleville police have not been involved. Instead, the Information Privacy Commissioner of Ontario is handling this case.

Global News also asked management if this was a case of curiosity getting the best of an employee.

“I don’t want to speculate,” says Romeril.

While the investigation into this case continues, the hospital is planning to conduct audits more frequently.