An Invercargill doctor who was reprimanded by the Privacy Commissioner for telling a nursing home one of its employees was a drug addict has been cleared of any wrongdoing in a judicial review.
The High Court at Wellington found commissioner Marie Shroff wrongly ruled against general practitioner Robert Henderson over the 2003 disclosure.
Dr Henderson rang the nursing home and told the charge nurse that a caregiver, who was on a methadone programme, had asked for opiates at his practice.
Ms Shroff found Dr Henderson could not provide adequate reasons for his actions and should have only told the home’s manager.
However, the judicial review found it was not up to the doctor to prove the threat and he had told the correct person.
Dr Henderson said today he would do it again because it was “the right thing” to do.
Read more from the New Zealand Press Association in the New Zealand Herald.