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A whistleblower from the Department of Health has said that the information that is available to government departments is “mind-boggling”.
Shane Corr, a senior official with the Department of Health, has revealed to RTÉ’s Prime Time program how the department has been secretly using information from medical consultations to build and maintain files on children with autism who were involved in historic legal actions against the State. . .
The records, which include confidential medical and educational information on children involved in long-dormant court cases, are believed to have been produced and maintained for several years by the Department of Health without the knowledge or consent of the parents.
Mr. Corr told the program that he made protected disclosures to his superiors highlighting the existence of detailed confidential files on legal cases and was later told that the report from an outside investigator raised no concerns.
“The information that is available to government departments is amazing and how they use it in this case is downright shocking,” he said.
Corr said he first became concerned when in the course of his job he came across documents related to the treatment of vulnerable people, including a model letter stating that there was a particular approach to litigating special education needs cases known as SENS.
“I saw something that, frankly, I can only describe as shocking. I saw an email from a Health Department official to a doctor who works for the HSE explaining that they were involved in litigation with one of their patients and asking this doctor for information, ”Corr said.
According to the documents seen by RTÉ, the doctor asked if the boy’s parents were aware of this and had consent to reveal the details.
Mr. Corr said the department’s response was “no, we have not informed, we have not informed the patient, we have not informed the parents and we are not going to do it. We do not ask for consent. “
“This is standard practice when we take a case, we litigate a case, we call HSE units across the country and ask for information, any information that might be useful to the case.”
The department received a lengthy clinical evaluation the next day detailing the boy’s struggles, according to RTÉ, while the family’s underlying legal action had been dormant for 10 years.
Mr. Corr also said he saw “various notes related to alcoholism within the family structure.”
“I saw notes related to the children’s siblings. They were not relevant. All kinds of family information was there … if the child is prone to violent acts towards his parents, his siblings, his teachers, his doctor. Everything you wouldn’t want to know about the family that lives next to you was there, “he said.
Corr said the files weren’t part of his job, but that anyone who works in the department’s division that deals with seniors, welfare and disability policies can access, search and view them.
“All this information was contained in a folder within the Department’s filing system,” he said. “I had my own password to enter the system, my own account. After that, I went to Win Explorer, typed in the keywords I was looking for, which would generally be ‘children’, ‘disabilities’, maybe ‘litigation’, and all these documents were there. I mean they were as readily available as if they were printed documents in a file next to me. “
Corr said that in a child’s record there was a video from the HSE in which the child was in an extremely distressed state.
“This information shouldn’t be there,” he said. Corr described the video as “one of the most distressing things I have ever seen.”
“He is a child who literally breaks down. A video of a child and it is in the folders of this litigation unit ”, he added.
Health Department
In a statement, the Health Department said it learned of RTÉ’s investigation last year and initiated an independent review of its practices.
On Thursday night, the department took steps to reassure parents, families and other stakeholders that it “never illegally kept confidential medical and educational information of children involved in inactive court cases.”
In a statement issued a few hours before the broadcast of the program, he said he was aware of the “impact that these headlines will have on affected families.”
He has committed to engaging with stakeholders in the coming days to address any concerns.
“It is normal practice for the accused [OF]litigation to collect and maintain appropriate information in order to obtain legal advice and / or defend the process. This is necessary to protect the public interest and is normal practice for litigation management, ”he said.
After learning about the program last year, the Department said it commissioned an unidentified senior attorney to conduct a review, which was completed in November and did not identify any violations of data protection law.
“The review found that the information contained in relevant files managed by the Department is consistent and typical of the type of information that arises in such litigation. The examination did not find any basis to suggest irregularities derived from the information contained, ”he said.
The Health Department did not immediately respond to a request for a copy of its independent report.
Health Services Executive
The HSE said it legally shares information with the Health Department on a variety of topics, including the provision of health services to children with special educational needs.
“It is normal practice for defendants to file litigation to share information, and we do so from time to time to assist in the management of certain Supreme Court cases taken against the State,” he said in a statement he first sent. once to RTÉ.
“In addition, the HSE regularly provides anonymous information to the Department of Health regarding ongoing legal cases, specifically in relation to the Disability Act.”
The HSE told RTÉ that, in relation to the alleged breach of confidentiality, “so far it could not identify incidents that fit the unspecific description given” by the station.
“We would not knowingly share personal information in violation of doctor / patient confidentiality or otherwise unlawful, and we take our obligations in this regard very seriously,” he said, requesting the ability to respond to any specific allegations before the program to air.
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