Son wants answers after St. Joe’s staffer snoops into late mom’s hospital records

When Arthur Gallant found out last Friday that a St. Joseph's Healthcare Hospital staffer had been snooping in his late mother's records, he burst into tears.

I screamed, I cursed, and I immediately started crying," Gallant said.

Gallant, who lives in Calgary but is originally from Hamilton, received the news in the form of a letter from St. Joe's addressed to his mother, Marilyn, but forwarded to his Calgary address. The letter informed him about inappropriate access" to records containing his mother's personal health information that occurred on March 26, 2021.

The letter, viewed by The Spectator and dated Jan. 18, 2022, states the hospital's privacy office received a report from a manager about a staff member's use of their system-access privileges in our electronic medical record."

Upon notification, our office promptly initiated an investigation," reads the letter. Audits reveal that the staff member reviewed some patient personal health information outside of what was required to support their official and authorized job duties."

The letter states the staff member said their actions were driven by a general sense of curiosity and that they did not copy or further disclose any information learned from their access."

The staff member was disciplined" and ordered to undergo additional privacy training. The hospital will also be performing weekly targeted audits of the employee's system use.

Gallant's mother died in April 21, 2019. The two were extremely close and her death was very difficult for Gallant. He's still processing his grief.

He also suffers from generalized anxiety disorder and borderline personality disorder - a mental illness which causes him to struggle to regulate his emotions.

All that combined has made this whole ordeal so much more upsetting, he said

It's not fair that I'm now being put through an emotional wringer," Gallant said in an interview with The Spec. I've lost confidence in St. Joseph's as an institution."

In a statement to The Spec, St. Joe's spokesperson Maria Hayes said patient confidentiality is of utmost importance" to St. Joe's.

At sign-on, staff are notified they will be monitored for appropriate use," she said.

In the past year, the hospital has uncovered five instances where staff have accessed health records for reasons other than their hospital duties. These breaches, and all suspected breaches are investigated and appropriate discipline applied."

St. Joe's also issued a warning to staff in recent weeks reminding them of the importance of patient privacy and that privacy breaches will not be tolerated.

Gallant has had troubles with St. Joe's in the past. In 2019, he told The Spectator about his experience being in the throes of a mental-health crisis and handcuffed in the hospital's ER, but still forced to sit and wait with the general public. He called it the most humiliating 15 minutes of his life. Others stared as he suffered, he said.

Still, despite him going public about that incident in the past, Gallant said he has no idea why someone was accessing his mother's records now, especially two years after her death. But he does want answers.

The letter he received states St. Joe's is now working with Ontario's Information and Privacy Commissioner's Officer to look further into the incident.

He hopes the investigation will shed light on what happened.

In the meantime, he's trying to focus on the positive memories of his mom. Last Tuesday would have been Marilyn's 71st birthday.

Katrina Clarke is a reporter at The Spectator. katrinaclarke@thespec.com