Details of some 200 patients’ health reports were yesterday stolen from the Centro Hospitalar Conde de São Januário (CHCSJ). According to information released by the Health Bureau, two sets of computers were stolen from the office yesterday which contained the data. […] After checking its records, the hospital said the two stolen computers contained the…
Author: Dissent
Benefits of electronic health records will soon kill privacy
Jay Cline writes: In five years, the privacy debate over personal health records will be over, and you and I will be storing our medical records at a central location. Why? Because the benefits of better care and less paperwork will outweigh our current fears about data breaches and inappropriate data sharing. […] So, what…
Ca: B.C., N.B. failed to protect personal health information: reports
Separate reports issued at the same time Wednesday by New Brunswick’s ombudsman and British Columbia’s information and privacy commissioner have found that their governments failed to protect the personal health information of B.C. and New Brunswick residents when a courier lost tapes containing health information. According to the news release, a courier package of computer…
Identity thieves prey on patients' medical records
Julie Appleby reports in USA TODAY: Doctors’ offices, clinics and hospitals are a fruitful hunting ground for identity thieves, who are using increasingly sophisticated methods to steal patient information, lawyers and privacy experts say. Recent disclosures that hospital workers snooped into the medical files of Maria Shriver, Britney Spears and George Clooney highlight the vulnerability…
UK: Patients "have no faith in NHS records database"
A series of personal information losses have meant patients have no faith in plans to put their details on a new national NHS database, ministers have been warned. Conservative MP Christopher Fraser said the collapse in confidence came after 300,000 prescription forms were lost, junior doctor job applications were found on the internet and a…
Editorial: Log into plan for online medical data
By the fall of 2009, if all goes as planned, Oregon’s 400,000 Medicaid recipients could be receiving a higher quality of health care through one high-tech change, according to the Department of Human Services. The agency is taking the lead on an effort to put the patients’ records online. The records would be accessible to…