'Assaulted' Jesse Ryder's medical records 'inappropriately' accessed by 4 medical staffers

New Zealand cricketer Jesse Ryder, who was critically injured after a serious assault on him by two men outside a bar in Christchurch, had his medical records inappropriately accessed by four medical staff, even when they were not involved in his treatment.

Stating that the four clinicians are being investigated, the Canterbury District Health Board (CDHB) apologised to Ryder, who is now recovering from his injuries after a six-day stint at the Christchurch Hospital, Stuff.co.nz reports.

Stating that the privacy breach was discovered after a routine audit following Ryder’s discharge, CDHB chief executive David Meates said that the identity of the four staff members were confirmed through their personal and traceable log-in passwords, although he added that they may not be aware that they are under investigation yet.

Although Meates said that the alleged four staff members had not faced any disciplinary action yet, however, he hinted that if found guilty, the four could face dismissal as the CDHB takes a serious view of privacy breaches.

However, Meates dismissed suggestions that they were only reviewing the situation due to its high profile nature, saying that they will have the same approach regardless of the nature of the case.

Meates further defended the security system, saying that the incident highlighted a ‘human’ behavioural issue, instead of being a security fault.

Ryder's records were accessed via a picture archiving system that the CDHB uses to provide clinicians around the South Island with a platform to communicate and provide second opinions to one another, the report added.