The personal data of patients from South Devon is in the hands of thieves after a laptop belonging to Torbay Care Trust was stolen, it has been revealed. The incident is just one of 30 occasions when personal data was lost or stolen collectively by Devon NHS staff in the last two years. The laptop…
Author: Dissent
Doctors mistakenly fax patients' data to Indiana company
Chris Echegaray reports: Doctors’ offices in Tennessee have been accidentally sending patient information, including Social Security numbers and medical histories, to an Indiana businessman’s fax machine for the past three years. The sensitive medical information was supposed to be sent to the Tennessee Department of Human Services, but Bill Keith, owner of SunRise Solar Inc….
Personal details of up to 3,500 people were on stolen Blackburn council computers
Seen on ThisIsLancashire.co.uk: The personal data of as many as 3,500 people was lost when 15 council computers were stolen, an official report has revealed. The laptops, used by social workers, were stolen from Jubilee House in Blackburn in June. Now the Information Commissioner will now carry out his own investigation as the theft meant…
Genetic disease patients may lose privacy rights to protect families
David Rose reports: New guidance for Britain’s 150,000 practising doctors could remove the right to confidentiality from patients with inherited diseases. When a patient is found to have a genetic disease, such as certain forms of cancer, doctors will be obliged to inform relatives about potential risks to their health, the General Medical Council (GMC)…
Judge orders Google to deactivate user’s Gmail account, but wait, there’s more…
Wendy Davis reports that in the Rocky Mountain Bank case previously covered here: In a highly unusual move, a federal judge has ordered Google to deactivate the email account of a user who was mistakenly sent confidential financial information by a bank. The order, issued Wednesday by U.S. District Court Judge James Ware in the…
Ex-partners of HIV-positive people struggle with privacy rules
Lori Coolican reports: Her first clue came in the form of a phone message at home, from an immunodeficiency clinic at a local hospital. They were looking for her boyfriend. At first, nothing seemed odd about it, because he’d been in hospital for surgery a few months ago. Besides, she was preoccupied over the fact…