Robert Weisman reports in The Boston Globe: CVS Caremark Corp. said Friday that it mistakenly sent letters to about 3,500 Tufts Health Plan members, giving them personal information about the medical conditions and medications of other members enrolled in a supplemental Medicare plan managed by Tufts. The mistake was due to an unspecified “programming error,”…
Category: Health Data
Attorney Claims Firm Swiped Asbestos Files (updated)
Matt Reynolds reports on a lawsuit that involves allegations of stolen client files from a law firm. A lawyer is suing his former law firm, alleging that they terminated him when he discovered and blew the whistle on their use of confidential files from another law firm. Those files had allegedly been copied and…
NL: Workers' medical details passed to employers by 'absenteeism stoppers'
This falls under workplace privacy as well as health privacy: The Netherlands’ biggest private health and safety firm (arbodienst) has been passing confidential medical information to employers, television current affairs show Zembla will report on Friday evening. Many Dutch firms rely on private companies to monitor health and safety in the workplace, follow up on…
CardioNet reports two breaches involving laptop theft (?) and other breaches newly revealed on HHS's breach tool
Sometimes it takes a while for me to track down details on a breach after seeing it mentioned on HHS’s breach tool. And sometimes, it’s just too late. A case in point is an entry for Flex Physical Therapy in Washington, where apparently 3,100 patients were affected by a computer theft on December 30, 2011. But…
Breach Leaves Thousands Of Kaiser Permanente Employees Checking Their Credit Report (update)
KXL FM reports that Kaiser Permanente has sent notifications to some current and former employees after their data were found on an external hard drive purchased in a second-hand store in September 2011: Maryann Schwab with Kaiser Permanente says names, phone numbers, social security numbers and other personal information was found on a non-Kaiser external…
Patient Claims Doctor Used Her in a Book
Robert Kahn reports: A woman claims in court that a doctor who treated her for drug addiction invaded her privacy by using “her most private, embarrassing, and traumatizing memories in order to surreptitiously obtain material for the book … ‘The Addict: One Patient, One Doctor, One Year.’” Gabrielle Lisnoff sued Dr. Michael Stein in Federal…