Craig Schneider has some more information on the breach at the Atlanta VA Medical Center:
The U.S. Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General has launched a criminal investigation into a security breach of veterans’ medical information at the Atlanta Veterans Administration Medical Center, according to an internal document obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
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In late December, the physician assistant revealed to a VA nurse scientist that she had been recording clinical data from patient encounters on her personal laptop, the document said. The worker asked the nurse if she could use the data for “research purposes” not related to the VA.
The nurse replied that such work was not permitted and asked the worker to destroy the data.
“After multiple follow-up conversations and receiving no confirmation from the (physician’s assistant) that she had destroyed the data, the nurse scientist notified the … compliance officer of the issue on 2/8/10,” the document said.
The physician assistant, hired in October of 2009, resigned effective Feb. 28.
Read more in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.