Brian Halevie-Goldman, a psychiatrist involved in the BALCO dope-prescribing scandal in major league sports, recently notified HHS of a stolen laptop containing information on 2000 patients. I can find no substitute notice or other information at this time, and this post will be updated if I do find something.
Casewatch summarized some of Halevie-Goldman’s prior problems thusly:
In 2006, the Medical Board of California has charged Brian D. Halevie-Goldman, M.D. with gross negligence, improper prescribing, inadequate record-keeping, and dishonesty.
[…]
In 2007, the board suspended Halevie-Goldman’s license for 90 days and placed him on probation, during which he was required to maintain records of all controlled substances he handles or prescribes, complete courses in ethics and prescribing practices, undergo psychiatric evaluation, and utilize a practice monitor who reviews the quality of his care of patients.
Halevie-Goldman also waived his right to ever practice medicine in NYS, as a result of the California charges.
Will HHS look to come down hard on him because of his past record? Dollars to donuts, they don’t even know about the past record because it predates HITECH.
Update: Dr. Halevie-Goldman’s notification letter, dated July 22, was added to the California Attorney General’s breach notification site on August 9. In the letter, he explains that two laptops were stolen from a locked vehicle. The laptops were password-protected, but there’s no indication that the data were encrypted or that there was any full disk encryption for them. The laptops were password protected, secured in a carrying case and locked inside a vehicle when the theft occurred.
Information on the laptops included “name, birthdate and patient chart notes. ” The information reportedly did NOT include any financial information or social security numbers.
You had a few days of interruptus…. couldn’t the data breaches stop for a few days too?