Doctor found guilty after ex-husband reports 'hundreds and hundreds' of pieces patient information uploaded to iCloud

A Québec doctor who uploaded patient information to the iCloud computing storage platform shared with—and controlled by—her ex-husband has been found guilty of breaching physicians’ code of ethics related to patent records. In a case that was instigated by her ex-husband—who sent the Collège des médecins du Québec an email stating he had “hundreds of hundreds” of patient files and photos—Montréal surgeon Dr. Marjolaine Bourque admitted to the regulator that over an eight-a-half-year period she had uploaded to the cloud platform more than 1,182 documents and photos pertaining to about 250 patients. The photos included images of patients in the operating room at the time of surgery, case histories, medical prescriptions, operating lists, on-call schedules, accounts rendering and progress notes. Dr. Bourque explained to the college that she used these photos to help her manage her work. For example, she reviewed the photos of consultation sheets to update patient lists or to determine what instructions to give to residents. In his email to the college, Dr. Bourque’s ex-husband also revealed that he had shown some of the photos to lawyers and journalists. Read: Your father's 'little heart is sick enough': Doctor ordered inappropriate cardiac scan then disclosed medical condition to patient's daughter Throughout the years Dr. Bourque was uploading these files, her husband at the time—who had set up the cloud account—knew her username and password, according to the decision document issued by the college. After she and her husband split up, Dr. Bourque lost access to the account. “I was not aware that this iCloud did not belong to me and that (the ex-husband) was the sole owner,” Dr. Bourque wrote the college as part of her response to the complaint. “I knew that (he) could see these photos but I did not consider that I had to block his access to documents that he knew were confidential.” Dr. Bourque also said that in the past she had always chosen her own passwords but that her ex-husband had insisted that all their passwords be centralized on a password management application called 1Password. He then asked her for her passwords. “Given our religious beliefs, I could not refuse such a request to provide him with my passwords,” Dr. Bourque wrote the college. “I understand today that at the time I should have refused this request … However, at the time, I was not in a situation where I thought I could refuse.” Dr. Bourque is currently awaiting a hearing on sanctions, to be scheduled by the college. Read: Quebecers no longer seeing doctor assisted deaths as exceptional, says oversight body

Doctor found guilty after ex-husband reports 'hundreds and hundreds' of pieces patient information uploaded to iCloud

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