Five nurses at Maple Ridge correctional centre suspended over medical record privacy breaches

Over the past month, five nurses listed as working at the Fraser Regional Correctional Centre in Maple Ridge have received licence suspensions after admitting to improperly accessing medical records of people who were not in their care.

The disciplinary orders were published in late August and early September by the B.C. College of Nurses and Midwives (BCCNM), which regulates nurses in the province.

All five nurses – Andrea Jusay, Kristine Sumalinog, Nigel Pastrana, Agnes Bacsa and Alix Stera – are listed in the BCCNM’s online directory as employed at the Fraser Regional Correctional Centre.

The misconduct occurred in April and May 2025, according to the regulator. Each nurse admitted accessing the medical records of a person who was not under their care, although the number of times the records were accessed varied.

The longest suspension was issued to licensed practical nurse Nigel Pastrana, who admitted accessing the medical records of a person not in his care on several occasions in April and May 2025.

Pastrana consented to a 14-day suspension of his nursing licence.

Registered nurse Andrea Jusay admitted accessing the records of a person not in her care on multiple occasions in April 2025. She consented to an eight-day suspension.

Licensed practical nurses Kristine Sumalinog and Alix Stera, along with registered nurse Agnes Bacsa, each admitted accessing a person’s medical records on one occasion.

Each received a seven-day suspension, while Sumalinog was also ordered to complete a remedial activity.

The BCCNM did not identify the person or people whose medical records were accessed, nor did the discipline notices specify why the nurses accessed the records or whether the five cases involved the same individual.

The notices also do not state where the improper access occurred or explicitly connect the misconduct to the Fraser Regional Correctional Centre.

In each case, however, the college emphasized the importance of protecting patients’ medical information.

The BCCNM’s Investigation Committee said the privacy of medical records is fundamental to the trust people must be able to place in nurses and that privacy breaches can harm both the nurse-client relationship and the sense of safety of people whose information is accessed.

The committee said nurses’ ability to access medical records only for work-related purposes is “core to the integrity of the nursing profession.”

The regulator identified similar mitigating circumstances in all five cases.

None of the nurses had a previous disciplinary record, all made full admissions and engaged in remedial actions, and the BCCNM found none gained an advantage from their conduct.

Stera consented to her discipline order on May 29, followed by Jusay and Pastrana on June 10, Bacsa on June 15 and Sumalinog on June 19.

The BCCNM published the orders involving Stera, Pastrana and Bacsa on Aug. 28. The orders involving Jusay and Sumalinog were published Sept. 8.

Fraser Regional Correctional Centre is a provincial correctional facility in Maple Ridge operated by BC Corrections.

The publicly released discipline notices do not indicate whether the nurses remain employed at the correctional centre. Their BCCNM directory listings identify the facility as an employer.