26 Jul 2022, 09:00

A woman complained on behalf of her elderly father that a hospital had incorrectly recorded he had a history of cancer. The incorrect information was subsequently released to another agency, which later used it in a report sent to the father.

As a consequence, the man worried that he had cancer and no-one had told him. The hospital apologised and corrected the error after the man’s distressed whānau queried the false health information held by the other agency.

The man’s daughter complained on his behalf to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner.

The complaint:

In her complaint to our Office, the man’s daughter spoke of the ongoing emotional damage caused by the error including how the mana and tapu of her father and whānau had been hurt.

While the hospital had apologised for the error and conducted a review to help ensure it did not happen again, the woman sought an independent investigation plus compensation.

She requested a hui hohou i te rongo, a reconciliatory meeting, to help her father and the whānau restore their mana.

Where the facts of a complaint are not disputed but the parties have been unable to reach a settlement themselves, our Office can explore a settlement under section 77 of the Privacy Act 2020 without an investigation.  If a settlement is not reached, the complainant can pursue an issue in the Human Rights Review Tribunal.

In this case, the hospital had already apologised to the man for failing to take reasonable steps to ensure the information they held on him was accurate, (rule 8 of the Health Information Privacy Code).

The hospital had already completed its investigation and had accepted it had breached the man’s privacy so our Office advised the hospital we wanted to explore a settlement without investigation by facilitating a hui at the whānau’s request. The hospital advised it was happy to participate in this process. 

The hui:

With thanks to tikanga Māori expertise from our Office, the whānau and the hospital, our Office helped facilitate a hui hohou i te rongo for the first time.

The hui began with a mihi whakatau and incorporated karakia and waiata. The whānau also brought a manea stone to support kai kōrero and kai manaaki while people spoke. In this case, our Office was able to ensure the parties came together kanohi ki te kanohi face to face.

For the man and his whānau, the hui’s focus was on restoring their mana and tapu after the damage caused by the father’s inaccurate medical notes. The woman described the anxiety caused to her father and whānau and how the consequences had “a long tail”. Her father continued to worry that he had cancer and the whānau had kept this from him.

A hospital representative acknowledged the mistake and how difficult this must have been for the man and his whānau. He explained there had been a change of process at the hospital.

A financial settlement was agreed at a later date. The woman shared thanks and gratitude for the hui hohou i te rongo and manaakitia.

Further information about conciliation conferences is available here.