Health foundations have a problem in Saskatchewan: It's expensive to fundraise, partly because it's tough to target appropriate donors.
Solution: Change the province's privacy laws to allow fundraisers to get their hands on the patient records of those who've just had a stay in a provincial hospital. Wait 60 days or some appropriate period, and then let the telemarketers at them.
Saskatchewan's information and privacy commissioner Gary Dickson says this is "inappropriate"
"I think it's a bad idea," Dickson told the Saskatoon Star-Phoenix. "I think what it does is it serves to undermine public confidence as we're building this very ambitious electronic health record. On the one hand, we're telling people, 'Don't worry about the protection of your personal information' . . . but what happens is we see, for no more compelling reason than just the convenience of health foundations, that information will now be shared on a routine basis.
Tags: privacy, health records