Dana Flavelle reports that private investigators hired by an association of secure document disposal companies found lots of personal information in dumpsters in the Greater Toronto area. Doctors offices and car dealers got an unwanted shout-out in their findings. Most organizations, especially large banks and hospitals, are doing a good job of disposing of sensitive…
Author: Dissent
Sperm donors' privacy rights should trump rights of offspring, Vancouver court told
Neal Hall reports: The privacy rights of anonymous sperm donors should outweigh the constitutional rights of donor offspring, a government lawyer argued today. Leah Greathead, the lawyer representing B.C.’S attorney general, told a B.C. Supreme Court judge that Olivia Pratten has a very sympathetic claim — she wants to know details of her genetic history…
Wisconsin hospital adds hand scans to ID patients
Shamane Mills of WPR reports: Hospitals in New York and San Diego are using hand scans to identify patients. Now a Wisconsin hospital is too. Patients with the same name even the same birthday are rare but it’s one of things that a new system at UW Hospital and Clinics in Madison is designed to…
Ca: Personal data at risk, study found
Dana Flavelle reports that private investigators hired by an association of secure document disposal companies found lots of personal information in dumpsters in the Greater Toronto area. Doctors offices and car dealers got an unwanted shout-out in their findings. Most organizations, especially large banks and hospitals, are doing a good job of disposing of sensitive…
Hospital Breach by Job Applicant
Over on the EMR and HIPAA blog, John says he’s torn about the case where a young man has been charged for his somewhat poorly thought out approach to a job interview with Houston Healthcare: … Honestly, Robert Rhodes, chief information officer for Houston Healthcare, just sounds like an angry CIO whose security efforts were torn…
Hacker may have accessed database of Louisiana EMTs
Marsha Shuler reports: Some 56,000 emergency medical technicians were advised this week that a hacker may have gained access to personal information about them contained in a state licensing database. The state Department of Health and Hospitals sent letters to the emergency medical technicians, notifying them of the incident that occurred Sept. 17. […] Department…