A Fife doctor has been suspended for two months after she accessed a man’s medical records without permission and shared the information on his Facebook page.
The Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS) found Dr Linda Morris to have committed serious misconduct during the incidents between 2016 and 2020.
Dr Morris accessed a person’s (referred to as ‘Mr A’) medical records without his consent and without clinical need to do so on July 11, 2016.
The tribunal heard that to access Mr A’s medical records, Dr Morris had to request the transfer of them from NHS Grampian to NHS Fife, where she worked at the time as a doctor at a sexual health clinic.
She then failed to note on Mr A’s medical records they had been viewed by her in
another health board.
‘Inappropriate’ post on Mr A’s Facebook
Then, in June 2020, Dr Morris made an “inappropriate” post on Mr A’s Facebook page, which divulged confidential information about him obtained in his medical records.
Dr Morris admitted to all the allegations put to her by the tribunal.
The tribunal found her fitness to practise impaired due to the misconduct.
She has been suspended from practise for two months, with the tribunal “satisfied the risk of repetition in this case is low”.
The tribunal noted Mr A was not a patient of Dr Morris at any time and therefore it did not consider her actions had put any individual patients at unwarranted risk of harm.
As part of her statement, Dr Morris said: “I broke the professional value of trust by breaching [Mr A’s] confidentiality.
‘I will never again let my emotions cloud my professional judgement’
“I understand that my actions undermine the doctor patient relationship and jeopardise the trust patients have that doctors will keep their information confidential.
“It was a very particular set of circumstances with Mr A, but I will never again let my emotions cloud my professional judgement.”
Dr Morris qualified as a GP in 2001. Since 2009, she has been working as a speciality doctor in sexual and reproductive health.
NHS Fife
The tribunal noted the Trust’s internal investigation into Dr Morris’ conduct was only focused on her accessing Mr A’s medical records inappropriately.
It did not focus on her having disclosed the information on social media.
A statement by ‘Dr B’, Dr Morris’s responsible officer, states: “Dr Morris made me aware of the Facebook post, but this was not pursued as part of the internal conduct investigation, as the breach of health record confidentiality was deemed our priority.”
The tribunal determined that this had been revealed to her employer and it was the employer’s choice not to pursue this in its investigation.
Judgement
Reaching a conclusion, MPTS tribunal chair, Jayne Wheat, said: “The tribunal considered that Dr Morris’ misconduct, while serious, was remediable.
“The tribunal had regard to the evidence submitted by Dr Morris of steps she had taken to understand her actions, identifying the underlying motivations and the impact they had had on others.
“[We] were satisfied that Dr Morris had understood the impact of her actions on public confidence in the profession.”
A spokesperson for NHS Fife said: “We are unable to comment on matters relating to individual staff members, past or present.”
NHS Fife declined to comment on whether Dr Morris is currently employed by the health board.
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