Doctor suspended after objecting to the sharing of her personal medical details

Here's another personal data sharing story that everyone should be told. A doctor, who objected to her personal medical details being shared with researchers who then repeatedly phoned her asking intrusive questions, was suspended by her health trust for five years. She had to take her employer to court, firstly to insist her records be kept confidential and secondly to fight the suspension. The Cambridgeshire Primary Care Trust (PCT) and East of England Strategic Health Authority (SHA) eventually followed the advice of a smart barrister and apologised unreservedly to her in the High Court last Friday.

"A HUNTINGDONSHIRE doctor was excluded from work for five years after she objected to her own private medical records being given to researchers.

The doctor was also "unjustly branded dishonest" and believes her career was curtailed by the actions of Cambridgeshire Primary Care Trust (PCT).

At the High Court in London on Friday, the PCT took the unusual step of making an apology to the doctor, who cannot be named for legal reasons...

At the High Court Mr Justice Eady was told that the woman was born with a serious and life-threatening condition which attracted interest from medical researchers.

The court heard that her medical details "in fully identifiable form" were circulated widely for the purposes of research at Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge. As a result she received "uninvited, intrusive and upsetting" phone calls from unknown researchers.

Despite repeated attempts to have her details deleted from databases, she had to take court action to force Addenbrooke's to keep her medical records secret, the court heard."