Denise Allabaugh reports:
Hazleton resident Shannon Konopinski worries her personal health information and family medical history could end up on the Internet and she has contacted lawyers.
She is upset about a letter she received stating that a former Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center physician sent her protected health information to his home e-mail in an un-encrypted manner.
Konopinski was one of nearly 3,000 patients that Geisinger Health System notified in letters stating their protected health information was disclosed in an unauthorized manner.
The letters state that former Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center gastroenterologist Dr. David C. Shaefer e-mailed a limited amount of protected health information from a Geisinger computer to his home e-mail account in an un-encrypted manner so he could analyze his procedures.
Read more in The Daily Review.
Well I hope the lawyer she called was ethical enough to tell her that unless she can demonstrate some actual harm, she doesn’t have a case.
Since when is calling up a lawyer newsworthy?
I agree with you completely. I was surprised to see that as a news lead and I share your hope that any lawyer would not encourage any legal action that may only add to stress and financial burden without producing anything of benefit.
Could the data have been accessed/acquired by others? Sure. I can think of a few scenarios, but statistically speaking, the risk seems quite low here.