More on the Cape Breton consent/privacy breach that was reported here yesterday. The Canadian Press reports:
… Malcom said the breach was discovered as the district was dealing with a significant outbreak of C. difficile, and it also took time to verify the addresses of the patients involved.
He said the intention was to send letters to patients in June but the recent postal strike prevented that from happening.
“It’s a rather complex issue . . . so you actually do need something in your hand to understand what exactly happened and what steps we took, so sending it by mail appeared to us the best way to do it,” he said.
He said the incident revealed research protocols need to be more widely shared among district officials, and any further release of information would not be allowed without multiple checks on consent.
There will be no disciplinary action.
“It was our mistake as a district, we acknowledge that, but it wasn’t one individual’s mistake,” said Malcom.
Now that’s the way to take responsibility.