A farmer was left “horrified” when personal and intimate details of a potentially fatal pregnancy complication for another woman were dropped through her letterbox. Kay Ashton, 54, said she was “completely bewildered” as to how confidential patient notes from Derriford Hospital’s accident and emergency department, which were meant for a doctor, were sent to her…
Category: Health Data
German DPA Fines Drugstore Chain €137,500 for Illegal Collection of Health Data
On January 11, 2010, the data protection authority of the German federal state of Baden-Wurtemberg issued a press release stating that it had fined the Müller Group €137,500 for illegal retention of health-related data and failure to appoint a Data Protection Officer. In April 2009, the German press reported that the Müller Group, a drugstore…
UK: Large databases can never be secure
Henry Porter writes: The decision by Scotland’s Crown Office not to prosecute Dr Andrew Jamieson for accessing the emergency care summary (ECS) records of well-known people is interesting. Despite the absence of a conviction, the case involving footballers, politicans and BBC journalists is significant because it shows that big centralised databases are the enemy of…
Patient Data Safety Rules Widely Disregarded, Unenforced
Joe Eaton reports: As the federal government prepares to spend up to $27 billion in stimulus funds to promote electronic medical records, a health technology industry survey suggests that a number of hospitals, health clinics, and insurance firms are violating federal security rules on patient data and putting sensitive health information at risk. The November…
(Follow-up) Beach nurse gets 2 years for identity theft from patients
Tim McGlone reports: Calling the crime “very disturbing,” a federal judge sentenced a nurse to two years in prison after she admitted stealing the identities of several patients, some suffering from dementia, and then going on a $14,000 shopping spree. Erica S. Fowler, 27, of Virginia Beach, said nothing before U.S. District Judge Robert G….
(follow-up) Northern District of Illinois Foreshadows Tough Row[e] to Hoe for Identity Exposure Plaintiff, but Denies Motion to Dismiss
Brendon Tavelli writes: On January 5, 2010, Judge William Hibbler of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois became the latest federal district judge to share his views about whether an increased risk of future harm based on the inadvertent exposure of personal information is a legally cognizable harm. In Rowe v….