[溫哥華本地新聞] Four fired, three suspended over privacy breaches: B.C. health minister government, minister, received

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Four fired, three suspended over privacy breaches: B.C. health minister

Margaret MacDiarmid said today the government acted quickly as soon as it received allegations of alleged privacy breaches



Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/health/Exclusive+health+ministry+suspends+workers+over+privacy+breach/7197204/story.html#ixzz25nVjqbiz
VICTORIA — The B.C. government announced Thursday it has suspended all drug-related research and fired four of its employees as part of an investigation into the alleged misuse of confidential medical information.
“I can’t really overstate how deeply troubled I am by this,” Health Minister Margaret MacDiarmid said Thursday.
“What we believe has happened is that individuals have gone outside of the rules around taking data and using data with respect to research in the area of drugs.”
On Thursday, The Vancouver Sun reported that seven government employees had been suspended without pay, and that agreements with two contractors had been dropped.
MacDiarmid said four of those employees were fired Thursday, and that three others remain suspended.
She said her ministry has suspended $4 million in drug-related research contracts, including work being done at both the University of B.C. and the University of Victoria.
“This is research that we contract with certain research entities, and that has all been stopped for the moment until we’re sure going forward that no health information is being shared inappropriately,” she said.
The government announced it has also suspended all data sharing with drug and evidence development researchers.
Other measures include:
• approval by a deputy minister for all spending by the pharmaceutical services division (see sidebar);
• tightening of policies on the awarding of contracts to universities;
• hiring an independent consultant to review and enhance data security measures.
MacDiarmid took over as health minister in a cabinet shuffle Wednesday and said she was shocked to hear of the allegations.
“My reaction was disbelief,” she said, adding the investigation was the first thing she was briefed on upon her arrival.
“I continue to be deeply troubled and disturbed by this.”
MacDiarmid said it appears the misuse of data was limited to unauthorized research, but noted the investigation is still seeking to determine exactly what information was accessed.
“It is my understanding that it was personal data, that it is regarding medications, but that there is personal data included in that,” she said.
“As far as we can understand it was used for research where it wasn’t initially given for that purpose. We don’t know if it was being used for anything beyond that,” she added, saying the ministry has forwarded information to the Information and Privacy Commissioner.
MacDiarmid said the investigation is also looking into allegations of undeclared conflicts of interest.
“It would appear that some of the people that were involved had relationships with others that would put them into a conflict that wasn’t declared,” she said, adding a family relationship was among the issues.
MacDiarmid also said the motivations for the alleged misconduct remains unclear, noting that so far investigators have not uncovered evidence of any personal financial gain.
The revelations of potential misconduct come just over a year after a former high-ranking official in B.C.’s Ministry of Health, Ron Danderfer, was sentenced to two years’ probation after pleading guilty to breach of trust. Danderfer said he committed a crime by accepting the use of a Kelowna condominium and a job for his wife from a contractor he was managing in his role with the government.

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B.C. Health Minister Margaret MacDiarmid said the government acted quickly as soon as it received allegations of alleged privacy breaches in her ministry

Seven employees have been suspended without pay from the B.C. Ministry of Health over allegations of inappropriate access to medical information, The Vancouver Sun has learned. The employees in question worked in the area of research and evidence development, which awards drug research contracts on behalf of the ministry.

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“The information they’ve given so far seems to be a little bit disorganized in the sense they’re releasing fairly specific details and at the same time being so vague about other aspects of what happened,” he said. “Hopefully for the people involved it is an insignificant issue and that nothing serious has occurred that would damage people’s interests.”

University of Victoria Prof. Eike-Henner Kluge, an expert in medical ethics, said from what little is known about the case — the improper use of medical data and the cancellation of government contracts — it appears to be very unusual.

As for potential motivations, he speculated one possibility could be assisting a university professor connected to the research with publication and career advancement.

It is unclear who the victims in this case are or how many there were, but Kluge said most data used for medical research does not have patients’ names attached to it.

The seven employees belong to the B.C. Government and Service Employees’ Union and have filed grievances, but the union will not discuss the case, citing the privacy of their members.

Asked about their members being suspended without pay, BCGEU spokeswoman Karen Tankard said that is “usual government practice.”

However, in some other high-profile cases, government staffers have been suspended with pay during an investigation. That includes Bob Virk, a former transportation minister’s assistant, embroiled in the infamous BC Rail case, and Danderfer.

At a media briefing in Victoria Thursday, reporters were told that suspensions without pay were not a common practice but that the government makes such decisions based on the information available.

According to B.C.’s Employment Standards Branch, the province can only terminate a worker — without giving notice or paying compensation — by proving there is just cause to do so, which includes finding evidence of fraud, breach of duty, conflict of interest, breaching the employer’s rules, and other violations.

B.C. politics expert Norman Ruff, a University of Victoria professor emeritus, said there is a “graduated scale of punishment” for unionized government workers and there is typically “just cause” — sufficient evidence of misconduct — before someone is suspended or terminated

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The ministry began its recent investigation in May after the auditor general’s office relayed an anonymous complaint about contracting irregularities and inappropriate research practices in the ministry’s pharmaceutical services division.

The ministry has since involved the RCMP, and last month provided the force with the preliminary results of its internal investigation.

MacDiarmid said the ministry hopes to pass more information to police later this month.

The RCMP would not provide any details Thursday. “Until we have reviewed the information we are not in a position to provide comment,” said RCMP spokesman Sgt. Duncan Pound.

In a press release Thursday, government said its internal investigation “examined contracting and research grant practices between ministry employees and researchers at the University of British Columbia and the University of Victoria.”

On Thursday, both schools said the Ministry of Health informed them on Wednesday afternoon of the allegations and the action being taken by government.

UBC spokeswoman Lucie McNeill said that because the university learned of the allegations so recently, it is too soon for authorities to determine whether any disciplinary action is necessary on the part of the university.

Representatives of both universities were unable to say how many researchers were involved or their area of health research. Both said they will cooperate fully with the ministry investigation.

New Democratic Party critic Doug Routley said the allegations raise serious questions, especially as so little is known about what took place.

“This is a fairly significant breach if it’s already led to the firing of four employees [and] there’s a potential RCMP investigation,” he said, calling the lack of public information about the case “disconcerting.”