Doctor cleared of privacy breach

An Invercargill doctor who was reprimanded by the Privacy Commissioner for telling a nursing home one of its employees was a drug addict has been cleared of any wrongdoing in a judicial review.

The High Court at Wellington found commissioner Marie Shroff wrongly ruled against general practitioner Robert Henderson over the 2003 disclosure.

Dr Henderson rang the nursing home and told the charge nurse that a caregiver, who was on a methadone programme, had asked for opiates at his practice.

Ms Shroff found Dr Henderson could not provide adequate reasons for his actions and should have only told the home's manager.

However, the judicial review found it was not up to the doctor to prove the threat and he had told the correct person.

Dr Henderson said today he would do it again because it was "the right thing" to do.

"I have spent hundreds of hours on this and many sleepless nights thinking about this, and I have to tell you, each time I've thought about it I've come up with the same thing. If it happened again I would do the same thing, irrespective of the cost to me because at the end of the day you have to do the right thing," he told Radio New Zealand.

"I am a great supporter of privacy but when it comes down to the safety of people's lives you've got to have safe procedure ... I felt talking to a senior nurse who could do something was effective."

Dr Henderson said he believed the home's residents were in imminent danger and anyone working in a rest home seeking drugs could "have a field day".

"It would be the easiest thing in the world to slip a few tablets into your pocket and take them home on a regular basis, no one would ever know," he said.

The Privacy Commissoner's office declined comment on the decision.

- NZPA