{"id":253714,"date":"2020-05-02T00:10:22","date_gmt":"2020-05-02T04:10:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=253714"},"modified":"2020-05-02T00:12:41","modified_gmt":"2020-05-02T04:12:41","slug":"doctors-file-privacy-complaint-against-shandros-staff","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2020\/05\/02\/doctors-file-privacy-complaint-against-shandros-staff\/","title":{"rendered":"Doctors file privacy complaint against Shandro’s staff"},"content":{"rendered":"
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There has been an emotional outpouring of support for the doctors from parents of children who attend Garneau Pediatrics, using the hashtag #patients4ABdocs. Doctors across Alberta also expressed concern about the staff\u2019s handling of health information. (File Photo by Ashkan Forouzani\/Unsplash)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

EDMONTON – The Edmonton Zone Medical Staff Association has asked Alberta\u2019s Information and Privacy Commissioner to investigate whether staff in Health Minister Tyler Shandro\u2019s office released private health information for political purposes.<\/p>\n

The complaint follows online comments from Shandro\u2019s issues manager and press secretary, who claimed pediatricians at Garneau Pediatric Associates were \u201cmisleading patients\u201d about the impact of Shandro\u2019s cuts on their practice model, and discussed the clinic\u2019s billing data on Twitter.<\/p>\n

There has been an emotional outpouring of support for the doctors from parents of children who attend Garneau Pediatrics, using the hashtag #patients4ABdocs. Doctors across Alberta also expressed concern about the staff\u2019s handling of health information.<\/p>\n

In a statement released on Friday, the medical staff association writes, \u201cBilling data collected by Alberta Health contains private information protected by the Health Information Act. We are filing this complaint to insure the Minister\u2019s office did not access patient information inappropriately. Private patient information must not be obtained and used for politics.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are also concerned that the political staffers of the Minister breached the Freedom of Information and Privacy Act by obtaining business information of the Garneau Pediatric Associates and releasing it to the public. An investigation will bring to light if the Minister\u2019s office has violated the Act. Despite the formal inquiry, as colleagues of the Garneau Pediatric Associates, we are deeply troubled that the UCP would single out a clinic to induce fear, anxiety and intimidation. It is distasteful and unbecoming of a Minister\u2019s office to abuse their power by menacing our colleagues.\u201d<\/p>\n

This is the second time that Minister Shandro and his staff have drawn questions about their handling of private information. In February, Shandro pressured Alberta Health Services staff into giving him the personal cell phone numbers of two doctors, and then phoned them late at night. AHS later admitted it was inappropriate to share doctors\u2019 personal contact details and reported the incident to the Alberta Medical Association.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s disgusting to see Tyler Shandro and his political staff smear Alberta doctors on social media,\u201d said David Shepherd, NDP Opposition Critic for Health, \u201cand it\u2019s very concerning to see this obnoxious behaviour escalate to a level where doctors question if Alberta\u2019s minister of health can even be trusted to handle health information that is protected by law.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTyler Shandro and his staff are trying to discredit professionals who have dedicated their careers to caring for children with complex medical problems. It\u2019s reprehensible, and Albertans see right through it,\u201d Shepherd said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

EDMONTON – The Edmonton Zone Medical Staff Association has asked Alberta\u2019s Information and Privacy Commissioner to investigate whether staff in …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":251132,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-253714","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news-ca","category-news","mauthors-albertas-ndp-caucus"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253714","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=253714"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253714\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":253718,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253714\/revisions\/253718"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/251132"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=253714"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=253714"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=253714"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}