It was while sitting in a doctors’ lounge and watching a janitor take away a huge recycling bin that Dr. Nancy Baxter stumbled on a major problem with the way hospitals operate.
Inside that bin, she saw paperwork containing the personal medical information of hospital patients. It was paperwork that should have been shredded, but instead, the janitor was planning to take it to recycling.
The types of bins available in many hospitals, designating where sensitive documents and where recycling should go.
She soon discovered it’s a disturbing amount.
Dr. Baxter, the chief of general surgery at St. Michael’s Hospital, has just published a new research letter in JAMA that finds that while all patients have the right to expect their personal health information will be kept safe in hospital, that doesn’t always happen.
Read full story here: Paper Documents In Hospitals Not Always Properly Destroyed: Study | CTV News
