Australian Information Security Incident Reported: September 18 2019

‘Detailed and graphic’: Clinic faxes patients’ highly sensitive medical histories to wrong number

A Melbourne medical clinic has been inadvertently faxing highly sensitive patient details including mental health and family medical histories to a Greenvale man for at least two years.

Source: ‘Detailed and graphic’: Clinic faxes patients’ highly sensitive medical histories to wrong number
More reports from: SMH.

The man said he has been sporadically faxed at least 10 medical referrals for specialist consultations from the Harding Street Medical Centre in Coburg.

The medical documents include mental health plans for patients diagnosed with severe anxiety, depression and sleep disorders, the bulk of which are women experiencing postnatal depression.”It is difficult to understand why such an antiquated and unreliable means of communication persists at all in the medical profession,” Coroner Rosemary Carlin said at the time.

The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners president Harry Nespolon said faxing was a risky and outdated method of patient referral.