REGINA, Saskatchewan, March 24 (UPI) -- Medical files for at least 1,000 patients were found in a large recycling bin in Regina, Saskatchewan, privacy officials said.
Acting on a tip from a citizen, provincial Privacy Commissioner Gary Dickson personally went to the site and told the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. he was "astonished" by the number of documents dumped in the bin.
He said he summoned staff for help in gathering and boxing the information that he estimates involves at least 1,000 patients.
Until the documents were thoroughly examined, he said it was possible the medical files could have come from doctors' offices, a pharmacy or a diagnostic lab.
"What we know for sure is this is information that is not supposed to be found in a dumpster," he said. "The immediate concern is making sure the stuff is safe."
The commissioner told the CBC he was particularly concerned as only recently he had circulated policy guidelines to medical staff throughout the province on proper disposal of old patient records.
