A Victoria resident is asking serious questions after he and his son's medical records were sent to a total stranger. Manjeet Manhas had been trying to have the medical records transferred to a new doctor since April.
On Monday he got a call from a Nanaimo man saying he'd been sent the records containing names, contact information, personal health numbers, dates of birth, and full medical records for himself, and one other member of his family.
The man, Mark Swiecki, says hidden in subdirectories of the disk were the medical records of 6 other people he is also contacting.
Manhas says he appreciates getting his records back, and calls the situation a serious breach of confidentiality.
The records had been sent by the non-profit agency MedRecords which stores and transfers patient medical records.
MedRecords executive Director Aiden Fernandes says his company has been in contact with the privacy commissioner. He also offered an apology saying the agency takes privacy concerns very seriously and is acting immediately to address what happened and ensure it doesn't happen again.
Fernandes blames the breach on human error, adding protocol was not followed and it's the first time in the company's 5 year history this type of situation has occured.