In decision 80 of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario, the wife of a deceased patient was concerned that a hospital doctor wrongly shared her husband’s health information by speaking to a third party about the care he received and that the hospital failed to meet its privacy obligations. These concerns were raised with… Read more »
Many health care organizations like hospitals, long term care homes, primary care practices, laboratories and pharmacies have video surveillance systems. What happens when someone asks for access to recordings? It depends. Here’s a new story about what might happen. In the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario’s recent decision 78, an individual asked a hospital… Read more »
There are two recent health privacy decisions of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario that have similar facts and similar outcomes. The main message: A doctor (or any other health information custodian) should never ignore a patient’s access request for records. If you do, the IPC won’t be happy. We want a happy IPC…. Read more »
In the last few years, the public has heard A LOT of scary things about electronic privacy scandals. In 2017, Equifax admitted their electronic records were compromised leaving millions of users’ financial information exposed. In May 2017, the WannaCry Ransomware attack negatively impacted 19,000 healthcare appointments across the United Kingdom which response cost the NHS over… Read more »
Tis the season for reflection of the year that’s been and anticipation of the year to come. How will you define success for 2019? That was the question posed to a group of over 100 lawyers at a course I launched with the Law Society of Ontario in December. The responses were personal and varied: Attend yoga… Read more »
Toot toot! I’m about to blow my own horn here. I am thrilled to announce that I have been honoured with a Clawbie again this year. Blank stare. You don’t know what a Clawbie is, do you? A Clawbie is a Canadian legal blog award. It’s a big deal in the legal community and I’m… Read more »
Free webinars - advance registration needed
Whether you're an experienced privacy officer or new in the field, pick Kate’s brain for free for an hour, in this live webinar. No charge, but you’ll need to register in advance.
Part of Kate’s monthly webinar series.
Our 2025 program is now live.
Full details of the 2025 webinar series and registration here.
For managers and other leaders from mental health and addictions agencies, hospitals, CMHAs, CHCs, school boards, FHTs and Indigenous health services
This is an annual membership program with monthly webinars.
Full details and registration here.
For Privacy Officers within healthcare organizations.
This course focuses on how to become a more confident privacy officer and gives you the tools to document your privacy program. Full details and registration here...
For Privacy Officers within healthcare organizations
This is an annual membership program that takes theory into practice and tackles real life scenarios to build Privacy Officer skills.
Full details and registration here.
For Primary Care clinics, Hospitals, Community Agencies, Mental Health Teams, Public Health Units, School Boards, Police departments
Scheduled to your team's needs for comprehensive or refresher training More details...
Want to read privacy breach stories to learn how to improve your work? We have summarized all the Information and Privacy Commissioner's health privacy decisions for you Download here...
Kate says:
My mission is bringing the law to life. I make legal theory understandable, accessible and fun! I’m available and love to work for all organizations in the healthcare sector across Ontario and beyond.
P.O. Box 13024, RPO Bradford Centre
Bradford, ON, L3Z 2Y5
(416) 855 9557