Confidential data from Derriford Hospital has been lost or stolen 17 times during the past two years, health chiefs have admitted. The theft of seven hospital laptops, patient blood results being sent to the wrong address and members of the public accessing sensitive files are among data problems recorded since January 2007. The hospital revealed…
Category: Health Data
UK: Medical notes sent to a stranger
Medical notes of three Dudley patients have been sent in error to a stranger in the town prompting concerns over a government agency’s data security. Rod Phillips, 59, was told he was ineligible for a disability pension and took the matter to tribunal. He said he was alarmed to find three people’s medical notes enclosed…
Medical errors, apologies and apology laws
Noni MacDonald, MD MSc and Amir Attaran, LLB DPhi have an editorial in the current issue of the Canadian Medical Association Journal that addresses the need for apologies when a medical error occurs. The article describes the history of such laws in the U.S. in the 1990’s: […] Full disclosure to the patient is the…
Stunning breach of confidentiality in Travolta tragedy
As Americans, we are indoctrinated with the notion of patient confidentiality. But what happened in the recent Jett Travolta tragedy should remind us that the protections we may have here may not apply if health care is provided out of the country. By now, most of the world knows that actor John Travolta’s son died…
Stolen CreditTek laptop contained data on 68,857 DJO patients
When a Creditek, LLC employee went on vacation to the Bahamas, he took his work laptop with him. The laptop, which contained personal and medical information on 68,857 patients of orthopedic products supplier DJO, LLC, was stolen from the home in which the employee was staying. According to a notification sent to New Hampshire’s Attorney…
Emergency Medical Associates of New Jersey security breach
On November 4th, lawyers for Emergency Medical Associates of New Jersey (“EMA”) notified the New Hampshire Attorney General’s office that in mid-July, the Secret Service had notified them that during the course of an independent investigation, the Secret Service had identified a total 27 American Express credit cards that were possibly the subject of identity…