By paNOW Staff

Regina doctor responsible for privacy breach: report

Jul 20, 2011 | 12:54 PM

One Regina doctor — Dr. Teik Im Ooi — is being blamed for a massive privacy breach that saw dozens of boxes of patient information thrown into a recycling bin.

Saskatchewan's privacy commissioner Gary Dickson has released a report on what he calls the single largest health privacy breach in Saskatchewan over the last eight years. His report states Dr. Ooi and the Albert Park Family Medical Centre bear the brunt of the blame for the breach.

Dr. Ooi is out of the country dealing with family matters. Close friend Lynda Haverstock as well as Dr. Ooi's lawyer Timothy Stodalka spoke to reporters on Wednesday morning on her behalf.

Haverstock says that Dickson is being unfair. She says Dr. Ooi carried out her repsonsibilities for the files with professionalism.

It started back on March 23 when Dickson's office received a tip that dozens of boxes of patients records were thrown into a blue recycling bin in the city's south end. In total, more than 2,500 patient files and 180,000 pieces of personal health information were contained.

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Dickson says the files originated fom a nearby doctor's office. The report indicates the records had been in storage starting in 2005 but the office lost track of them over time.

They had been moved from a locked storage room in the basement of the Golden Mile Shopping Centre after a water leak. Cleaning staff employed by the mall eventually moved the boxes into the bin to be recycled.

There are still 125 boxes of files that remain unaccounted for.

The responsibilities physicians have for patient files takes away time that could be dedicated to patients, said Haverstock. She would like to see a common facility for Sasktachewan physicians to maintain “dead” files.

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