A local paediatrician is facing a fine after he was found to be wrongfully accessing private health information of newborn baby boys from local hospitals.
Ontario’s Information and Privacy Commissioner fined Dr. Omar Afandi $5,000, and his clinic, WE Kidz $7,500, for the breach of records at Windsor Regional Hospital and the Chatham-Kent Health Alliance.
The hospitals reported to the IPC that the doctor used his privileges to access shared electronic records to contact the parents of newborn boys to offer them circumcision services through his clinic.
According to the IPC report by Commissioner Patricia Kosseim, the breaches happened in April and May of 2024. After Windsor Regional Hospital was made aware of the breach, Dr. Afandi was removed from the on-call schedule, and as of May 21, 2024, the doctor no longer holds privileges at the hospital.
The doctor was ordered to pay $5,000 and dispose of all records that were obtained from the hospital files.
The clinic was ordered to pay $7,500 and to strengthen its privacy policies and procedures, and have management and staff undergo privacy training.