Cyberattack concerns Humber MDs

Hospital says it’s seeing 200 patients a day with only one complaint

A group of emergency physicians at Humber River Hospital has written a letter to the hospital's administrators calling for the emergency department to be temporarily closed until IT systems are fully restored, citing concerns over patient safety.

The hospital’s information technology system has been shut down since Monday following an early-morning ransomware attack that triggered a Code Grey, or loss of essential services.

The IT shutdown has led to delays in medical and diagnostic test results needed to assess patients, according to the physicians who wrote the letter obtained by the Star. “This is leading to compromised and dangerous conditions for our patients,” the letter reads.

The authors want “normal activities in the emergency department to cease until our IT systems are restored to normal function,” noting patients could travel to nearby GTA hospitals that “can operate at the proper level of care.”

The letter, sent late Thursday to administrators at Humber River, was co-authored by a group of emergency physicians, none of whom signed their name to the letter due to concerns about speaking against their employer. Staff who spoke with the Star say the letter was approved by a group of 30 physicians who work in the hospital’s emergency department. That’s about half the staff of 65 physicians in the department.

In an interview with the Star, Dr. Leon Rivlin, chief and medical director of the emergency department, said the hospital has “continued to deliver care to all of our patients in a very safe way” during the ongoing Code Grey.

The emergency department is now safely relying on paper records while assessing patients, he said. It’s also working closely with the diagnostic and laboratory departments “to ensure that we are maintaining all of the efficiencies and the safety mechanisms that have been developed in order to make sure patients get the care that they need,” Rivlin said.

Since Monday, Rivlin said he has been made aware of only one patient complaint regarding care received in the emergency department.

“And we’re seeing between 200 and 300 patients a day,” he said.

In their letter, the group of physicians provide examples of how they believe patient care has been compromised during the IT shutdown, including: delays in laboratory tests, including those for suspected heart attacks; the inability to view and share diagnostic test results, including those needed to assess a trauma patient; and lengthy waits for blood test results for dialysis patients.

The letter goes on to say: “The situation is currently such that we would never consider sending our own loved ones here.”