Jessica Lyons reports:
Quest Diagnostics has agreed to pay almost $5 million to settle allegations it illegally dumped protected health information – and hazardous waste – at its facilities across California.
This sum won’t hurt at all for the corporation, one of the largest clinical medical lab networks in the US. In all, Quest is being charged slightly less than two days of its $994 million annual profit in 2023 – hardly a serious disincentive.
Under the settlement [PDF], Quest will pay $3,999,500 to ten California counties (Alameda, Los Angeles, Monterey, Orange, Sacramento, San Bernardino, San Joaquin, San Mateo, Ventura, and Yolo), plus give $300,000 to environmental projects and an additional $700,000 to foot attorneys’ fees and other costs. In exchange, it admits no guilt over the matter.
Read more at The Register.