Sask. privacy commissioner investigates found records

For the second time in a month, boxes of doctors' records have been turned over to Saskatchewan's privacy commissioner for investigation.

This time, dozens of boxes of files were found in an unlocked empty office in Moose Jaw.

According to the office of the information and privacy commissioner, the investigation started last Wednesday with the discovery of six large boxes containing what appeared to be physician records on several hundred patients.

Further investigation revealed 73 "banker boxes" of records in a basement that a number of occupants of the building had access to.

The records once belonged to a number of doctors practicing in the Moose Jaw area.

The discovery comes just two weeks after hundreds of records were found in five boxes in a vacant office in Yorkton.

An investigator is still working through those files, Information and Privacy Commissioner Gary Dickson said. Officials have not yet determined who was last responsible for them.

Under the Health Information Protection Act, doctors can face thousands of dollars in fines or even prison time for failing to protect medical files. The maximum fine is $50,000 for an individual and $500,000 for an organization.