Ottawa Hospital HR leaders have fired a team member who breached privacy requirements by discussing a senator’s hospital stay.
Ottawa Hospital has fired an employee for posting information about suspended senator Mike Duffy’s heart treatment on an online news story.
In July this year, cleaning crew supervisory Mike Crowder posted a comment through Facebook on an Ottawa Citizen story about the charges laid against the senator.
“When Duffy was a patient at UOHI last year, he was nothing short of being pompous and arrogant with my staff,” Crowder’s message read, which went on to discuss meeting NHL play Gino Odjick at the hospital.
Crowder was placed on administrative leave last week and then fired on Monday for breaching the hospital’s rules on patient privacy, which prohibit publicly disclosing a patient’s stay without their permission.
However, paralegal Gregg Foss, who is working for Crowder, claims his client only confirmed what was already known and had been reported in the media when Duffy was being treated for heart problems.
Citing employee confidentiality, the Ottawa Hospital would not confirm that Crowder had been dismissed or comment further.
Crowder has also reportedly filed a defamation lawsuit against the Cornwall Free News, which suggested that his comment was a breach of patient privacy. He claims he lost his job due to that blog post.
In July this year, cleaning crew supervisory Mike Crowder posted a comment through Facebook on an Ottawa Citizen story about the charges laid against the senator.
“When Duffy was a patient at UOHI last year, he was nothing short of being pompous and arrogant with my staff,” Crowder’s message read, which went on to discuss meeting NHL play Gino Odjick at the hospital.
Crowder was placed on administrative leave last week and then fired on Monday for breaching the hospital’s rules on patient privacy, which prohibit publicly disclosing a patient’s stay without their permission.
However, paralegal Gregg Foss, who is working for Crowder, claims his client only confirmed what was already known and had been reported in the media when Duffy was being treated for heart problems.
Citing employee confidentiality, the Ottawa Hospital would not confirm that Crowder had been dismissed or comment further.
Crowder has also reportedly filed a defamation lawsuit against the Cornwall Free News, which suggested that his comment was a breach of patient privacy. He claims he lost his job due to that blog post.