Probe found family medical files, meth history, wrongly handed to son's school

Sensitive medical files, including a mother’s historic meth use, were handed to her son’s new school within weeks of him starting, an Auckland District Health Board (ADHB) investigation found.

The 2019 privacy breach led to the mother winning more than $29,000 damages against the Auckland primary school in a Human Rights Review Tribunal (HRRT) ruling in March.

The report said staff from the Starship Community Service, the health board’s community nursing outreach service for children, should never have shared the records.

The report, obtained by the Herald, recommended apologising to the pair but did not outline disciplinary action against staff.

The mother discovered the school held the medical records after a concerned teacher aide alerted her.

The sensitive information was used by staff at the boy’s first school to discriminate against the mother and son.

The school and involved staff denied those claims.

However, the HRRT ruled staff formed prejudicial views of the pair after obtaining the records, treating them differently and less sympathetically than other families, causing humiliation, loss of dignity and harm.

Information in the records included details of a traumatic pregnancy, the boy’s extreme premature birth and the mother’s past sex work and methamphetamine use before she knew she was pregnant.

It also contained later paediatric assessments showing the child was developing well and had been discharged from specialist care.

In April, a Human Rights Review Tribunal found an Auckland primary school unlawfully collected and misused highly sensitive medical information about a mother and her son, shaping how they were poorly treated by the staff. Photo / Mike Scott

Talking to the Herald in April, the mother said knowing the school held the medical files had been distressing.

“It’s not something that you’d ever want the people at the school that your child’s going to, to find out, especially because it’s not current.

“Because it’s not who I am now. It’s not who I was when he first started school. It was who I was before I became a mother.”

The tribunal concluded the mother and child’s discriminatory treatment flowed after the medical records were obtained.

A special educational needs co-ordinator (Senco), who was a senior teacher, concluded the mother “was dangerous” and her son’s “developmental issues were attributable to her drug use”, making them “less deserving of empathy”.

The tribunal pointed to incidents the boy endured, including being excluded from class and the playground, having his school hours reduced, and a tantrum where he was videoed by two staff instead of being offered comfort.

A distressing school bus trip was also cited.

On the return leg, the mother – while suffering a broken arm – was left alone to deal with the boy lashing out uncontrollably because of hunger and overstimulation.

The tribunal awarded the mother and son $29,100 in damages.

It also permanently suppressed the identities of the mother, child, school and its staff to protect the boy from future discrimination.

With the school unnamed, the mother was left feeling justice was incomplete.

The mother learned how her medical files were shared in late 2019 when she received a formal apology from the ADHB. Photo / Mike Scott

When the mother realised the school had her sensitive records, she complained to ADHB, sparking an investigation.

She learned of the investigation and its findings when she received a formal apology in late 2019.

Initially, she was not given the report despite asking for a copy. When she finally viewed its contents, she was struck by how easily the medical records had been obtained.

“It did surprise me. I didn’t realise they’d taken original copies of documents. It was quite shocking to know that that was able to happen and that it was that easy for them to do.

“And it wasn’t just accidentally – they gave the paperwork to the staff.

“[Starship staff] actually sought out the paperwork ... those weren’t things they could just accidentally hand over.”

She was also surprised by how many people had handled her family’s information.

“I thought it was just one nurse, but then to find out it was more, it was quite shocking.”

The mother believes it took around two years to receive the ADHB investigation report and that the delay lasted until the board realised she wasn’t going to take legal action against it.

The investigation traced records and concluded it was more likely than not the documents had been disclosed to the school alongside other information.

The final report stated the material “should not have been provided to an external person or organisation”.

Earlier this year, the Herald sought the full investigation report in an Official Information Act request to Health New Zealand Te Whatu Ora, with questions on what disciplinary or procedural changes followed.

Health NZ rejected the request, citing the family’s privacy.

It did confirm no records were permanently lost, that it holds no record of a similar breach elsewhere within Starship Community and that staff completed privacy training at the time.

The mother said the health board’s apology mattered to her and was why she did not pursue further action against ADHB.

“The fact that they owned it, once it was investigated – to me that goes a long way. With the school, they still to this day haven’t apologised.”

However, the mother is concerned her family’s experience isn’t isolated.

“If it’s happened to us this easily, how many other people has this happened to before?”

Mike Scott is a senior visual journalist at the Herald. His work spans writing, photography and video and he has won numerous journalism awards, including Videographer of the Year and Best Documentary. He has worked in media for more than 25 years, producing stories across New Zealand and internationally.