VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – More patient medical records have been compromised at Vancouver Coastal Health. But this time, someone was snooping around on high-profile people in the community.

News1130 has learned five people are affected, all of whom are well-known media personalities, including one here at News1130.

VCH has confirmed the employee who was involved has been fired after an investigation into “inappropriate access to the electronic health records of the individuals who had received care through VCH at some point.”

Everyone affected has been notified. They will not be named.

The health authority is assuring people that identity theft is not a concern in this case. It says the information was not shared verbally or in writing with anyone else.

The privacy breach was discovered through a random audit in November. There are suggestions the employee went through the files because they were curious.

“[It took] place over about a period of a month or three weeks. We did a very quick a detailed investigation and looked into the employee. We met with the employee and have terminated the employee,” says Clay Adams with VCH.

The last privacy breach at Vancouver Coastal was in October of last year when a laptop was lost; it had 450 patients’ information on it.

BC’s information and privacy commissioner is also investigating the breach.

In an emailed statement, Elizabeth Denham says it’s deeply troubling when an employee who has legitimate access to personal information on the job abuses that privilege. She continues to say what is most concerning about this case is that it involves sensitive, personal health data.

Denham explains her office will be working with Vancouver Coastal Health to help mitigate any current and future risks.