A number of people have commented on Twitter and on this blog that the young man who was arrested for breaching the Houston Healthcare database should have been thanked and/or hired. If this were 1983, I might agree with them, but I found myself taking a harder line about the breach as it was not…
Category: Health Data
Class action lawsuit against United Healthcare settled
Back in April 2008, a number of students at U.C. Irvine became victims in a fraudulent tax return scheme after an employee at United Healthcare Services misused their information to file fraudulent returns. Over 1,000 graduate students who were enrolled in the university’s health insurance program were affected. In browsing one of my favorite blogs…
Court of Appeals: Patient in 2007 TB/CDC scare can go ahead with lawsuit
I am not litigation-happy, but I am really glad to read this news from The Associated Press: The Atlanta man who was thrust into the center of a 2007 international tuberculosis scare won a major legal victory Friday when a federal appeals court allowed his lawsuit to move forward claiming health officials publicized his condition…
Johns Hopkins University e-mail attachment error exposed personal info
Johns Hopkins University has notified the U.S. Dept. of Health & Human Services of a breach involving 692 of its Applied Physics Laboratory employees’ dependents. Because HHS’s breach logs don’t provide a lot of detail, I contacted JHU for additional information on the incident. As I have come to expect from them, they promptly responded with full…
Medical records found at public recycling dumpster
Chellie Mills of KFOR reports that hundreds of folders containing medical records and Social Security Numbers were found at the Norman Recycling Center. The files appear to be associated with two medical practices in the Norman, Oklahoma area: Norman Pediatric Associates and Norman Urology. A lawyer for the latter practice said: Walters says, “They were…
Accused hacker granted bond in Houston Healthcare case
Becky Purser follows up on a breach first reported yesterday: A 21-year-old computer consultant accused of hacking into Houston Healthcare’s database was granted a $10,000 conditional bond Thursday in Houston County Superior Court. Christopher Stewart Wheeler of Warner Robins, who is charged with one count of theft by taking, four counts of computer theft and five…