Question: Hana was receiving cancer treatment at a clinic run by Te Whatu Ora (TWO). Becks, a TWO Administrator who had attended school with Hana, saw Hana going into the clinic one day.

LO1: Demonstrate understanding of legal institutions and processes in health care (500 words).  Case study: 

Hana was receiving cancer treatment at a clinic run by Te Whatu Ora (TWO). Becks, a TWO Administrator who had attended school with Hana, saw Hana going into the clinic one day. Becks looked up Hana’s records on the hospital system, and sent a screenshot to her sister Clara, who also knew Hana. Clara saw Hanaat aBBQa fewweekslaterand loudly exclaimedhow sorryshe was “about the cancer”. Several people overhead. Hana, who had not told anybody about the cancer treatment, was angry and embarrassed.

Instructions

Identify the relevant rule(s) in the Health Information Privacy Code that may have been breached by Becks. Link any breaches to Becks’ conduct.   

Discuss the role of the Privacy Commissioner and briefly outline the Privacy Act complaint process.    

Discuss the specific steps for this this case to progress to the Human Rights Review Tribunal (HRRT) and outline the potential legal outcomes at the HRRT.  Be specific. 

LO2: Analyse the role of civil and criminal law on health care policy and practice (500 words)

Case study:

Philip worked as an audiologist at a private practice. His employer was Richard.

After a series of serious mistakes, Philip’s employment was terminated. Philip was very aggrieved about this. He created a letter on fake letterhead.

The letter was on NZ Blood Service letterhead, confirming a positive HIV test after a blood donation and urging Richard to seek immediate support from a sexual health clinic. Philip was aware that Richard regularly donated blood.

Philip sent the letter to Richard’s wife using a fake email address. Both Richard and his wife were extremely upset on receiving the letter. Richard spent hours ascertaining that the letter was fake and became very stressed, lost sleep and had to take several days off work.

Instructions:

Identify the standard and burden of proof for civil and criminal law. Briefly explain why the criminal law standard is higher.

Examine whether there are any potential criminal law implications in this case. Be specific and cite relevant sections of the Harmful Digital Communications Act, if relevant.