DataBreaches.Net

Menu
  • About
  • Breach Notification Laws
  • Privacy Policy
  • Transparency Report
Menu

Update on Saint Mary's Regional Medical Center breach allegations

Posted on September 27, 2010 by Dissent

Last week I posted links to a controversy as to whether Saint Mary’s Regional Medical Center in Arkansas had actually experienced a privacy breach or not.  The story just gets weirder and weirder.  The medical center released the following press release, available on FierceHealthcare, but not, apparently on their web site or on the site of Capella Health. It says, in part:

“It is important for the community to know that while we were able to find approximately 250 pages of health-related papers along Interstate-40 near Forest City, only two pages involved patients from Saint Mary’s. The rest of the pages recovered appear to be from a 3-ring binder related to diabetes education not associated with Saint Mary’s. However, our priority is to determine how any patient information was able to leave our hospital premises.

“We want to stress that the incident appears to be much more limited in scope than seemed at first.”

The medical center was delayed in locating the papers because the trucker had seemingly provided inaccurate information. When the trucker called back the next day to provide an accurate location, hospital personnel were able to retrieve papers:

However, the hospital learned later that the Shred-it employee was unable to retrieve all of the documents because a reporter for KTHV-TV had taken the original documents that we had been told had been secured to the sign post. The reporter also told Saint Mary’s he was in possession of another paper that bore the name of a physician, therapist and patient NOT associated with Saint Mary’s. The reporter was informed that possession of federally protected PHI is unlawful and that the information should be handed over to the health care provider or destroyed immediately.

Well, I doubt that the reporter violated any federal law. HIPAA is binding on covered entities, not those who come into possession of unsecured PHI and who are not, themselves, covered by the law. While it’s not a good idea for unsecured PHI to be floating around a newsroom, I doubt if any laws were broken.

Between 200 and 300 pages were found in the search and clean-up. With the exception of the three documents in the reporter’s possession, every page was part of two three-ring diabetes education binders not associated with Saint Mary’s.

Read more on FierceHealthcare.


Related:

  • Paying cyberattackers is wrong, right? Should Taos County's incident be an exception? (1)
  • HHS OCR Settles HIPAA Ransomware Investigation with Syracuse ASC for $250k plus corrective action plan
  • Two more entities have folded after ransomware attacks
  • Data breach feared after cyberattack on AMEOS hospitals in Germany
  • Premier Health Partners issues a press release about a breach two years ago. Why was this needed now?
  • Theft from Glasgow’s Queen Elizabeth University Hospital sparks probe
Category: Health Data

Post navigation

← French police bust network of mobile phone hackers
Designing an Insecure Internet →

Now more than ever

"Stand with Ukraine:" above raised hands. The illustration is in blue and yellow, the colors of Ukraine's flag.

Search

Browse by Categories

Recent Posts

  • Scattered Spider Hijacks VMware ESXi to Deploy Ransomware on Critical U.S. Infrastructure
  • Hacker group “Silent Crow” claims responsibility for cyberattack on Russia’s Aeroflot
  • AIIMS ORBO Portal Vulnerability Exposing Sensitive Organ Donor Data Discovered by Researcher
  • Two Data Breaches in Three Years: McKenzie Health
  • Scattered Spider is running a VMware ESXi hacking spree
  • BreachForums — the one that went offline in April — reappears with a new founder/owner
  • Fans React After NASCAR Confirms Ransomware Breach
  • Allianz Life says ‘majority’ of customers’ personal data stolen in cyberattack (1)
  • Infinite Services notifying employees and patients of limited ransomware attack
  • The safe place for women to talk wasn’t so safe: hackers leak 13,000 user photos and IDs from the Tea app

No, You Can’t Buy a Post or an Interview

This site does not accept sponsored posts or link-back arrangements. Inquiries about either are ignored.

And despite what some trolls may try to claim: DataBreaches has never accepted even one dime to interview or report on anyone. Nor will DataBreaches ever pay anyone for data or to interview them.

Want to Get Our RSS Feed?

Grab it here:

https://databreaches.net/feed/

RSS Recent Posts on PogoWasRight.org

  • Congress tries to outlaw AI that jacks up prices based on what it knows about you
  • Microsoft’s controversial Recall feature is now blocked by Brave and AdGuard
  • Trump Administration Issues AI Action Plan and Series of AI Executive Orders
  • Indonesia asked to reassess data privacy terms in new U.S. trade deal
  • Meta Denies Tracking Menstrual Data in Flo Health Privacy Trial
  • Wikipedia seeks to shield contributors from UK law targeting online anonymity
  • British government reportedlu set to back down on secret iCloud backdoor after US pressure

Have a News Tip?

Email: Tips[at]DataBreaches.net

Signal: +1 516-776-7756

Contact Me

Email: info[at]databreaches.net

Mastodon: Infosec.Exchange/@PogoWasRight

Signal: +1 516-776-7756

DMCA Concern: dmca[at]databreaches.net
© 2009 – 2025 DataBreaches.net and DataBreaches LLC. All rights reserved.