Thirty-four charges have been laid against an individual under the Health Information Act, along with six additional charges under the Criminal Code. The charges have not yet been proven in Court.
As a result of a self-reported breach to the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner, the Commissioner opened an offence investigation into suspicious accesses to health information. Upon completion of the investigation, the matter was referred to Crown prosecutors at Alberta Justice. Thirty-one charges under the Health Information Act were then laid for improperly accessing other individuals’ health information, one charge was laid for inappropriate use of health information, one charge was laid for inappropriate disclosure of health information and one charge was laid for knowingly falsifying a record. Six additional charges were laid under the Criminal Code.
This is the third time charges have been laid under provisions of the Health Information Act. The maximum penalty for a first offence under the Health Information Act is $50,000 for each charge.