Walter F. Roche Jr. reports: Attorneys for Magee-Womens Hospital filed documents available on the Internet that included the names and confidential medical information of several patients, in what hospital officials called an inadvertent violation of federal law. The filings were made in the case of a former secretary at the UPMC facility who was fired…
Author: Dissent
Express Scripts Reports New Threats Tied to Data Security Breach
Express Scripts (Nasdaq: ESRX), one of the largest pharmacy benefit management companies in North America, announced today that a small number of its clients have received letters threatening to expose the personal information of its members. The threats are believed to be connected to an extortion threat the company made public last week. The letters,…
Ca: Privacy spectre raised in lab clash
Tracy Tong reports: A plan to consolidate regional lab services could compromise the confidentiality of Ottawans’ health records, an area lawyer charged yesterday. The Champlain Local Health Integration Network – which includes 15 eastern Ontario hospitals, including Ottawa’s – is planning on consolidating many services at a “superlab†in partnership with an American company that…
FL: Social Security number, medical records found in municipal Dumpster
Will Van Sant reports: Branches of county and state government in Pinellas have improperly disposed of documents that contain citizens’ sensitive personal information. Pinellas clerk of the circuit court auditors released a report Friday that says child abuse records, juvenile defendant information, Social Security numbers, medical information and privileged attorney-client documents turned up in…
TX: Computer Back Up Tapes Containing Personal Information Stolen
Scott Lawrence reports: KFDM News has learned police in Houston are investigating the theft of two computer back-up tapes containing the names and personal information of hundreds, and perhaps thousands of patients in the Christus Health Care system, including some in Beaumont and Port Arthur, as well as patients from other hospitals and doctors’ offices….
FBI arrests man for theft and attempted extortion of AIG
While I was travelling last month, I apparently missed an important news item. In light of this week’s reports of a significant breach and extortion attempt of Express Scripts, this earlier news release from the FBI in Indianapolis is particularly timely: Michael S. Welch, Special Agent in Charge of the Indianapolis Office of the Federal…