CBC News in Canada reports: Inappropriate access to medical records has meant a breach of privacy for 277 patients in the Cape Breton District Health Authority. Researchers viewed patient names, addresses and two lab test results before physicians had asked their patients for their consent to participate in an approved research study. The study would…
Category: Health Data
Walgreens.com site exposed patients' pharmacy records to other patients?
When I first saw a headline in my newsfeed, “Local man finds another Walgreen customer’s info,” I thought this was going to be another story about improper records disposal. My first thought was, “Wow, after all Walgreen has gone through and may still be going through on records disposal, this is the last thing they…
Ex-city workers used stolen IDs in costly spree
Guillermo Contreras reports: A San Antonio couple who worked for the city pleaded guilty Tuesday to a charge that they used stolen Social Security information to buy a boat, jewelry and several vehicles, including two motorcycles, two Cadillacs and a $43,000 Corvette. Mary Mercy Lopez, 49, and David Edward Reyes, 48, pleaded guilty to conspiracy…
UK: Basildon Hospital faxed cancer details to wrong person
The BBC reports on one of the recent actions by the Information Commissioner’s Office, reported previously on this blog. A hospital in Essex has changed patient communication procedures after cancer records were repeatedly faxed to a member of the public instead of a GP. Basildon Hospital was reported to the Information Commissioner – the data…
Demonstration: wiping hard drives is not sufficient to secure PHI
Watch this video. The hard drives belonged to Bayou City Medical Center and over 100,000 files with patient information were recovered containing names, Social Security Numbers, dates of birth, and much more… after the drive had reportedly been wiped and reformatted. I do not know if this breach was ever in the media or reported…
The Sun defends itself against accusations concerning Brown's child (updated with apology from The Guardian)
Yesterday, I posted a link to a story in The Guardian that essentially accused The Sun of egregious conducting in publishing information about a political figure’s child’s health issues. At the time, I stated that whoever engaged in such conduct should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, but noted that an investigation…