Jonathan Marshall reports:
Fundraisers for St Vincent’s Hospital in Melbourne used patients’ confidential medical files to beg for money after they received care.
The “very successful” scheme ran for “years and years” until a patient with knowledge of privacy legislation complained to hospital management.
[…]
Victoria’s Health Records Act prohibits the release of any information without the permission of patients.
Speaking at the FIA conference, Mr Cook said St Vincent’s Melbourne previously gave patient information to the St Vincent’s Foundation, an external organisation.
Read more on The Telegraph. Once again, it seems, privacy laws are being viewed as a pesky nuisance instead of actively embraced.
This isn’t the only hospital to try fundraising this way. A similar concern had been raised in Saskatoon, as just one example.