1 Feb 2009, 09:00

A health centre was conducting a health promotion campaign. It asked one of its employees whether it could take photographs of her and her daughter to use in the campaign. After the photographs were taken, the woman told the health centre that she did not want it to use any of the photographs of her. However, she was willing for the health centre to use her daughter's photograph on a poster for a year.

Several years later, the health centre used the daughter's photograph on an invitation to an event at the health centre. The photograph was also used on a postcard promoting the health centre within the community. In addition, the woman discovered that the health centre had produced a book that contained a photograph of her and her daughter, including their names, in conjunction with a discussion about health problems within the community.

The woman was very distressed about these events. She was also upset that her daughter's photograph had been used and disclosed more widely than she anticipated. She complained to us.

We suggested that it might be possible to resolve the problem through mediation between the woman and the health centre. Both parties agreed to this, and one of our staff conducted the mediation, which was successful. The woman and the health centre settled their dispute amicably, on terms that were completely satisfactory to both parties. The results of the mediation were confidential.


May 2009

Disclosure of personal information - health centre - photographs - photographs of one person used without consent - photographs of another used more widely than anticipated - mediation - Privacy Act 1993, principle 11; section 74