Joseph Goedert reports: The Lexington (Ky.) VA Medical Center has notified about 1,900 veterans of a breach of their protected health information. An employee without authorization took home on a laptop patient information, including names, dates of birth, medical diagnoses and the last four digits of Social Security numbers, according to a statement from the…
Category: Health Data
VT: Northwestern Counseling notifies 12 of stolen Social Security Numbers
Northwestern Counseling & Support Services in St. Albans, Vermont notified some clients last month that a stolen petty cash lockbox that held itemized receipts with the clients’ Social Security Numbers went missing. Okay, it happened, and the service duly notified those affected. But really, is it fair to put this on the clients: Although the petty…
Family Says Caretaker's Lap Dance for Alzheimer's Patient Was Posted on YouTube
Julia Filip reports on a lawsuit in Alabama: The family of a 97-year-old Alzheimer’s patient claims a caretaker did a lap dance for the demented man and posted the video on YouTube, invading his privacy and inflicting outrage, shame and humiliation for the purpose of entertainment. The Donaldson family sued Mount Royal Towers nursing home,…
Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Flower Mound notifies patients of breach
Breach Notice: Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Flower Mound is notifying its patients of a breach of patient health information. Texas Health Flower Mound and Texas Health Partners, its business associate, are under a duty imposed by law to notify patients of breaches of patient information. A company-issued laptop of an employee of Texas Health Partners…
New data spill shows risk of online health records – as if we needed yet another reminder?
Jordan Robertson of Associated Press reports: Until recently, medical files belonging to nearly 300,000 Californians sat unsecured on the Internet for the entire world to see. There were insurance forms, Social Security numbers and doctors’ notes. Among the files were summaries that spelled out, in painstaking detail, a trucker’s crushed fingers, a maintenance worker’s broken…
FI: Patient medical data on computer found in ditch
From YLE: A computer containing thousands of people’s private medical data was found in a ditch on a Turku motorway, according to the daily Turun Sanomat. The patients listed include politicians, businessmen and top athletes. The computer belongs to a private chiropractor, and the patient records and data were not password protected. The staff at…