Not a good day for our friends in Canada. Apparently, a nurse from a health clinic in a Toronto area clinic copied health information for 83,000 people to a USB drive..and subsequently lost the drive. Not good.

“A health department nurse was taking a USB key containing the records to her car in Whitby, Ont., to take it to a remote clinic site on Dec. 15 when the device was lost. A search failed to turn it up.

“We believe it was lost on regional property. We have some video surveillance tape data to indicate that was the case,” said Dr. Robert Kyle, chief medical officer of health for Durham Region.

The privacy commission office was advised Monday by the Durham Region health department that the device was missing, said spokesman Bob Spence.

The USB key contained the names, addresses, phone numbers, dates of birth and health card numbers of patients who attended H1N1 flu vaccination clinics in the region between Oct. 23 and Dec. 15.”

View the full The Canadian Press article

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