Alberta pharmacist suspended after inappropriately accessing person’s health records

An Alberta pharmacist is facing sanctions after inappropriately accessing a person’s digital health records.In July 2021, Sin Young (Jenny) Park, a registered pharmacist working for Alberta Health Services, had accessed the health records of a woman through Netcare, the Alberta government’s provincial EHR system. It remains unclear why Park did this—the woman was a stranger to Park, although reporting from the Edmonton Journal suggests the pharmacist had an “unwelcome desire” to befriend her.According to the decision from the Alberta College of Pharmacy released in August, Park had the health records open for a total of four minutes, but there’s no evidence to suggest Park shared the information with anyone else.The woman had never met Park, nor had she ever been a patient of Park’s, according to the agreed statement of facts, and the records were accessed “without an authorized purpose.” She filed a complaint in October 2023 and told the college she had developed anxiety as a result of her private medical records being accessed.In November 2023, Park developed a written response to the college’s complaint director, accepting responsibility for the unauthorized access and apologizing for her conduct.“Ms. Park had been very forthcoming, honest, and apologetic both in her written response and during our meeting,” the college’s investigator wrote.The college’s hearing tribunal said Park’s actions “undermined the profession's integrity, decreased the public’s trust, and demonstrated a lack of judgment.” “It is a fundamental expectation that Pharmacists will only access the information when authorized to do so and only use it pursuant to patient care,” the tribunal said in its decision.The Edmonton Journal spoke to the complainant and reported that in the lead-up to the complaint, Park had been sending her messages on social media “expressing an unwelcome desire to befriend me,” despite the two being strangers who have never met. Neither the disciplinary decision nor the Journal story explain what prompted Park to contact the complainant and access her health records.After she had blocked Park on social media, the complainant said Park had called her husband’s business and introduced herself as a pharmacist. “She started sending me messages, and just kind of crossing the line on Instagram and requesting a friend request on Facebook,” the complainant told the newspaper. “She started video calling me on Instagram . . . It started getting weird.”The complainant subsequently requested her Netcare records as she began to worry whether Park had looked at them, the newspaper reported. After receiving the records, which showed that Park had accessed them, she filed the complaint.The college issued a reprimand as well as a three-month suspension. Park is also required to complete and pass a course on ethics and boundaries within 12 months of the hearing date. In addition, Park is responsible for paying 25% of the costs of the investigation within two years up to a maximum of $8,000.

Alberta pharmacist suspended after inappropriately accessing person’s health records

Register for free access or login.

Related Topics