Richard Woodbury reports:

A proposed settlement worth about $400,000 has been reached in a Nova Scotia class-action lawsuit relating to the improper access of patients’s personal health information by an employee of the former Capital District Health Authority, according to a law firm involved in the case.

The breaches by former employee Katharine Zinck Lawrence, who accessed the information of an estimated 105 friends and family members while working for the health authority, occurred between 2005 and the fall of 2011.

What I find especially interesting is how the money will be shared among victim patients:

According to Wagners, the proposed settlement says non-relatives shall each receive $1,400, while relatives would receive $2,750 because of the familial relationship with Zinck.

A third category could see patients receive up to $8,000 if they feel they’ve suffered additional harm as a result of the breaches.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen any case in the U.S. that involved employee snooping result in monetary compensation at that level. Can any reader think of a comparable outcome here?  Even when HHS enters into a settlement as opposed to a class action lawsuit settlement, there is no money distributed to victims of a snooping employee.

Read more on CBC.