HALIFAX — Defence officials are reviewing the medical records of several Forces personnel after an investigation showed their personal health information was mistakenly placed in a veteran's military medical file.

Maj. Cindy Tessier said the file belonging to navy veteran Wayne Finn was retrieved and all references to other people's medical and personal information were severed.

Tessier said the revelation has prompted officials to take a close look at those records and possibly others to make sure there are no other similar breaches under the Privacy Act.

"We're looking at the files of the people named, but it won't completely stop there," she said from Ottawa, suggesting other personnel's records may be reviewed as well.

The Department of Defence launched an investigation after Finn found about 30 other service members' social insurance numbers, blood test results, X-ray reports and dates of birth mixed in with his medical file.

The 49-year-old Nova Scotia man said he still has information referring to about 20 people in his file, even after returning the files of eight others to Canadian Forces Base Stadacona in Halifax where he was serving.

Finn, who served as a bosun on a variety of supply ships, asked the privacy commissioner a year ago to look into the breach but said he had received no indication from the commissioner's office that they are pursuing the complaint.

However, Peter Stoffer, the NDP's veterans affairs critic, recently asked the commissioner to review Finn's privacy concerns after the 30-year veteran outlined his case to him a couple of months ago.

Commissioner's office spokeswoman Anne-Marie Hayden confirmed Friday that the incident was looked into and a privacy breach did occur in the handling of Finn's military records.

She said the office has been in touch with Defence to determine what took place and "what they're doing to deal with the situation.

"We're of the understanding that they are notifying the individuals affected and our understanding is that they're putting measures in place to make sure this does not recur."

Tessier said it appears someone in the health records department failed to sever or black out other people's information before handing Finn's file over to him before he was medically released in 2007.

"We try to do our best to get the files out, but it appears in that process the proper severances weren't made," she said.

She added that training on the handling of severances is being beefed up and that a new electronic system for health records should provide additional safeguards.

One person who was named in Finn's file said he was stunned to learn that his social insurance number, military service number and TB test result were revealed. Another veteran who was not named in Finn's file said he found someone else's blood test results, service number and name in his file.

Finn's case surfaced a month after Veterans Affairs Minister Jean-Pierre Blackburn issued an apology to Sean Bruyea, a former intelligence officer whose medical information was shared widely in the department.

After Finn's claims appeared in the media a couple of weeks ago, the military's deputy surgeon general, Col. Jean-Robert Bernier, circulated an email to military health staff on the importance of the proper handling of personal information.

"There is a particular Canadian Forces imperative to avoid such errors since the early presentation and successful treatment of CF patients often depends on their confidence that their personal information will be strictly protected," he said in the email, obtained by The Canadian Press.

Finn said he was satisfied the matter was being investigated, but wanted to know the outcome of the commissioner's and Defence's findings to ensure personnel are receiving the right information.

"If they don't give you the end result of it, how are you going to know if anything was ever done?" he said.

Finn, who claims he's missing medical information in his file, said too often former members have trouble accessing benefits through Veterans Affairs because they have incomplete health records.

He was medically released from the Forces in 2007 because of chronic health problems including kidney stones and celiac disease.