An Edmonton woman says a pharmacist sanctioned for accessing her personal information also contacted her on social media in a bid to become her friend.
The Alberta College of Pharmacy temporarily suspended former Calgary-based Alberta Health Services pharmacist Sin Young (Jenny) Park in August after she admitted to accessing personal data belonging to a woman she had never met and who was not a patient.
That woman, Natalie Chung, is now speaking out, saying Park also contacted her on social media and called her husband’s workplace “expressing an unwelcome desire to befriend me.”
“She started sending me messages, and just kind of crossing the line on Instagram and requesting a friend request on Facebook,” Chung said. “She started video calling me on Instagram … It started getting weird.”
According to a September news release from the College of Pharmacy, Park admitted to accessing Chung’s provincial electronic health records (Netcare) on a single occasion when she worked for Alberta Health Services. Park accessed the files while at home on her work laptop on July 28, 2021, and spent about four minutes on Chung’s file. There is no evidence she disclosed Chung’s information to anyone else.
The 21-page disciplinary decision in the case does not say why Park accessed Chung’s information, but notes the two did not know each other.
Chung said Park continued to try to make contact after she blocked her on social media. Things came to a head on Aug. 9, 2023, Chung said, when Park called her husband’s business, introduced herself as a pharmacist, and asked if Chung could call her back. The couple investigated and realized Park had previously accessed Chung’s Netcare, including pages containing personal and medical information.
“At that point, I realized this is getting serious,” Chung said. “When she introduced herself as a pharmacist, we kind of worried that she accessed my Netcare, because that’s where she can get my personal number and our home address and other sensitive health records. And when we got the Netcare records, we saw her name.”
Chung filed a complaint with the college in October 2023 and also has a complaint before Alberta’s privacy commissioner.
After receiving Chung’s complaint, an investigator from the college contacted Park, who admitted she accessed Chung’s information.
“Ms. Park had been very forthcoming, honest, and apologetic both in her written response and during our meeting,” the investigator wrote.
Park admitted she breached her ethical obligations as a pharmacist as well as the Health Information Act and Health Professions Act. She acknowledged her actions undermine public trust in the pharmacy sector, and promised she would never access personal information again.
“It is a fundamental expectation that pharmacists will only access the information when authorized to do so and only use it pursuant to patient care,” the college said in its decision.
The college agreed to a joint submission sanctioning Park, including a reprimand and a three-month suspension of Park’s practice permit. She was ordered to serve one month of the suspension, with two months held in abeyance “pending there being no further privacy concerns coming to the attention of the (college)” within two years.
Park must also take a professional ethics course and make any future employers aware of the misconduct. She was ordered to pay 25 per cent of the costs of the investigation, totalling $5,900.
Chung said she struggles with anxiety and panic attacks in the wake of her contact with Park.
Explaining her decision to speak out, she said, “I believe it is essential to raise public awareness of this pharmacist’s misconduct and highlight the critical importance of protecting personal privacy.
“Health care professionals must understand the serious consequences of accessing health records for inappropriate reasons, whether out of curiosity or personal interest.”
Neither Park nor her lawyer, Bryan McHale, responded to requests for comment.
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