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Ca: Bureaucrats who violated veteran's privacy get ‘slap on the wrist’

Posted on March 9, 2011 by Dissent

Murray Brewster reports what is undoubtedly a lame and disappointing response to an egregious privacy breach:

Veterans Affairs bureaucrats who rifled through the personal files of a department critic were handed written reprimands and three-day suspensions – penalties the victim calls a “slap on the wrist.”

An internal investigation found 54 veterans bureaucrats improperly snooped through Sean Bruyea’s personal files, including medical and psychiatric reports. Some of them used the information to smear the outspoken critic.

“These employees have been disciplined and department officials consider this matter has been successfully addressed and closed,” said a Feb. 25 letter to Mr. Bruyea, obtained by The Canadian Press.

The two-month internal investigation determined that 614 employees handled his file over a number of years, but many had no need to do so.

Read more from the Canadian Press in the Globe and Mail. I won’t bother quoting the excuses explanations given for why the response was so mild except to say that I do not find it credible to assert that some of the people involved did not know that what they were doing was wrong.  I suspect that they knew exactly what they were doing and did it anyway and should have been dealt with differently.

Judging by the over 200 comments under the news story, I’m not alone in my disgust at the lack of a meaningful and proportionate response to this breach.

Category: Health Data

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