Kate Newton reports: Hundreds of patients’ medical records were stolen from Wellington Hospital by an employee and left languishing in a Porirua house for six years. Six boxes containing about 800 documents, mainly patients’ referrals and test results, were taken from the hospital by medical records clerk Taofiga “Junior” Sa. The patients whose files were…
Category: Health Data
Backup with sensitive HIV information stolen — from a car
Grace Jang of KTVA reports that the HIV status of thousands of Alaskans is likely in the hands of a thief: Anchorage Police, along with the Alaskan Aids Assistance Association known as the Four A’s, say the sensitive information was taken earlier this month, but because the investigation is still very active, a lot of…
A publicized medical privacy breach can have chilling effects
The other day, I reported a horrific privacy breach that involved a veterans’ very sensitive mental health information being provided to a minister. The breach seemed politically motivated as the veteran had been critical of the government. Such breaches can have a very chilling effect. Michael Staples reports: Revelations that confidential medical and financial information…
Groups urge Congress to exempt them from data breach bill
Eric Chabrow reports: Witnesses testifying Wednesday on a data breach bill called on senators to exempt industries from notifying individuals whose personal information is exposed if other laws require such alerts. Melissa Bianchi, a lawyer representing the American Hospital Association, told the Senate Commerce, Science and Technology Consumer Protection, Product Safety and Insurance Subcommittee, that…
Stolen Ault Chiropractic Center computers contained patient info
Ault Chiropractic Center in Indiana has notified HHS that computer theft on September 15th affected the PHI of 2,000 patients. There is no notice on their web site as of the time of this posting so I don’t know precisely what types of information were on the stolen and whether there was any encryption or…
Data Breach Investigation | Constitutionality | Arbitrary, Capricious?
Benjamin Wright is an attorney who teaches e-discovery, data security and cyber investigations law at the SANS Institute. In commenting on the recent matter of Lucile Salter Packard Hospital being fined for not notifying patients within 5 days of confirming that PHI were on a stolen computer, Wright states: Yet I will say that it…