Ca: Anti-abortion activist snooped into patient records
An anti-abortion activist who worked at an Ontario hospital was sacked after a massive privacy breach in which abortion files, among other patient records, were inappropriately accessed.
Dawn DeCiccio, a high-profile anti-abortion campaigner, was one of seven staff members fired from Peterborough Regional Health Centre after a privacy breached in which nearly 300 patient medical records were snooped into between 2011 and 2012, the Star has found.
During that time, DeCiccio was working as a health information clerk and she used to protest outside the hospital with the Peterborough Pro-Life group during her lunch hour on Saturdays, the agency said.
Ontario’s privacy commissioner told the Star on Friday that it was notified by Peterborough hospital in May 2011 that an employee with “a pro-life viewpoint” had been dismissed for accessing patient abortion files without authorization.
The Star could not confirm that the patient files DeCiccio illegally accessed were abortion records. DeCiccio has categorically denied that she inappropriately accessed any patient records or that she was fired from the hospital. “I left on my own accord,” she told the Star.