A former Alberta Health Services (AHS) employee has been fined $2,000 after pleading guilty to the unauthorized disclosure of a patient’s health information, highlighting ongoing concerns about privacy violations in the province’s health system.
Kayla Satre, who worked as an Administrative IV Medical Secretary at the University of Alberta Hospital, accessed confidential health records through Connect Care and Netcare.
An AHS audit uncovered unauthorized access to the health information of 17 individuals, some of whom she had personal relationships with, and the unauthorized disclosure of health records belonging to two people.
The disclosed information included infectious disease details, and one recipient of the leaked data later received harassing text messages.
Satre was initially charged under Alberta’s Health Information Act (HIA) with multiple violations. However, following a plea bargain, she pleaded guilty to a single charge of unauthorized disclosure of one person’s health information, and the Crown agreed to drop the remaining charge.
Alberta Information and Privacy Commissioner Diane McLeod expressed frustration over the case, emphasizing that current laws do not provide strong enough deterrents against health information breaches.
“The outcome of this case demonstrates an ongoing concern,” McLeod said.
“The type of information disclosed was very sensitive, the kind that I have recommended be masked to make it unavailable except to a very limited number of authorized persons. Despite the disclosure of such sensitive information and the substantial resources expended to bring this case to trial, the law is not structured in such a way to effectively deter snooping.”
In her 2023-24 Annual Report, McLeod called for stronger enforcement measures, including the power to impose administrative monetary penalties for serious privacy violations. She argued that the current offence provisions are failing to prevent unauthorized access and misuse of private health information.
As Alberta’s independent privacy watchdog, McLeod’s office oversees compliance with the province’s access to information and privacy laws, including the Health Information Act, the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, and the Personal Information Protection Act.
