Two laptops containing confidential medical information about Houston-area patients were stolen from a car parked at a Galleria-area store today and authorities are asking for the public’s help find them. A man who serves as a consultant for a local hospital parked his car at the Best Buy store at 5133 Richmond about 10:30 a.m….
Author: Dissent
Schwarzenegger signs bills creating hospital privacy oversight office
Jordan Rau and Patrick McGreevy report: Hospitals and other health facilities will face harsh new penalties if their employees snoop in the medical records of patients, under legislation signed Tuesday by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger after privacy was breached on celebrities’ files — including his wife’s — at UCLA Medical Center. Schwarzenegger approved two bills creating…
Insurer leaks personal data to agents
Jaquetta White reports: The names, addresses, telephone numbers, birth dates and Social Security numbers of more than 1,700 independent agents for Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana were accidentally included in an e-mail sent to the insurer’s agents last week. An e-mail about plans to update an internal operating system contained a spreadsheet attachment…
UK: Data security lapses endemic in NHS, investigation reveals
Steve Nowottny reports: EXCLUSIVE: Four NHS trusts in five have lost patient data or suffered a data security breach since the beginning of last year, Pulse can reveal. Our investigation reveals the true scale of confidentiality breaches within the NHS, with trusts reporting more than 1,300 incidents since January 2007. […] Figures obtained the Freedom…
Texas AG Charges Rehab Facility With Unlawfully Dumping Client Records (follow-up)
Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott today charged Treatment Associates of Victoria Inc., with violating the Texas Identity Theft Enforcement and Protection Act. According to court documents, the San Antonio-based drug testing and rehabilitation facility violated a state law that requires businesses to protect their customers’ sensitive information. The Office of the Attorney General (OAG) launched…
UK: Inquiry after patient records found dumped
Matt Wilkinson reports: An investigation has been launched into how a file loaded with confidential information on vulnerable mental health patients was picked up by a shopper in Oxford. A member of the public found the folder — lost by Bromford Housing Group — at Templars Square shopping centre in Cowley. The folder contained personal…