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Issue #43 | View PDF
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Depressed woman’s benefits removed due to pictures on Facebook
By Tanya Colledge
When Nathalie Blanchard’s doctor advised her to try and have some fun to help with her diagnosed case of depression, she never imagined that it would have resulted in losing her medical benefits.
Blanchard, a 29-year-old woman from Bromont, Quebec, has been on sick leave from her job at IBM for the past year and a half after she was diagnosed with major depression. She had been receiving monthly sick leave benefits from her insurance company, Manulife, until this fall, when the payments suddenly dried up.
When she called Manulife to investigate the situation, her insurance agent described that several photos posted on Facebook of her having a good time at a bar for her birthday and at the beach on holiday, were evidence that she was no longer depressed and was well enough to return to work.
Blanchard was shocked that the insurance company would look into her case in such a manner, interpret her photos and make assumptions about her condition. Furthermore, Blanchard’s privacy settings on the popular social networking site prohibit unknown users to have access to the photos posted on her profile page.
Blanchard is now seeking legal action against Manulife in an attempt to reinstate her disability payments and receive the estimated $1,000 in lost funds since the ordeal began. The insurance company confirmed that they use Facebook in order to examine clients’ cases because it is easily accessible information that simply cannot be ignored.
This case is a harsh reminder that Internet postings, no matter how many privacy settings you may have in place, are never truly private. This is not the first time that the social networking site has been in the news around privacy issues—users are warned to be cautious when posting pictures or personal information on their accounts.