She was banned for two months for consulting the medical files of her husband’s colleagues

A Montérégie pharmacist caught consulting the confidential medical files of some of his wife’s co-workers on 62 occasions, including one, has been banned for two months.

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In January 2022, a co-worker of Marie-Claude Gagnon’s husband discovered that she had checked his medical file from the pharmacy where he worked in Maryville.

This healthcare worker, whose identity is protected by a publication ban, never received services at M’s pharmacy.^me Gagnon. So she alerted the trustees of Quebec’s Order of Pharmacists.

The next day, the trustee received a second request for an investigation: another colleague of M’s husband^me Gagnon discovered that the latter had consulted his Quebec health record (DSQ). In this case, the pharmacist saw it five times between 2019 and 2021.

The DSQ contains, among other things, health information about the medications the patient has received, their laboratory analysis results, and clinical imaging. Health professionals such as doctors, dentists and physiotherapists can access it, but only consult their patients.

She agrees to everything

The trustee of his professional order soon met the Maryville pharmacist. He readily admitted to accessing the medical files of these individuals “due to personal difficulties experienced at the time,” as we read in the recently issued decision.

“He mentions that he tried to get their private address, but he didn’t go to these people’s houses or in front of their houses,” we note.

M^me Gagnon also admitted to consulting a third colleague’s file. After checks, the trustee discovered that the pharmacist had seen it no fewer than 62 times between 2014 and 2019.

“These are serious offences, given the confidentiality of the information in the DSQ and the fact that the legislator only allows access to restricted professionals, including pharmacists,” the Regulatory Council of Pharmacists of Quebec underlined.

The public should expect “every pharmacist to act as one of the guardians of the right to professional confidentiality,” it stated.

In February, another pharmacist, Réjean Lemay, was banned for a month for reviewing the file of a member of her entourage at the request of a relative. In 2022, Salamicha Poirier was fired for two months for accessing his ex-wife’s file.