I’m working on a breach post for later today but started mulling over the question of whether HHS needs to start fining covered entities who have repeat breaches where the entity did not seem to adequately harden their security after the first breach or to really learn from experience. This is 2010. The excuse “we…
Category: Health Data
Theft of patients' records nets the max in prison
Jay Weaver follows up on his earlier report: If Ruben E. Rodriguez — sitting in a wheelchair — was looking for sympathy at his sentencing Monday for pilfering more than 3,000 Jackson Memorial Hospital patient records, he came to the wrong place. U.S. District Judge Joan Lenard sentenced Rodriguez to 11 years in prison for…
Florida businessman to be sentenced for stealing patient records from Jackson Memorial
Jay Weaver reports: A Miami-Dade businessman who pleaded guilty to pilfering thousands of patient records to sell to lawyers for injury claims faces up to 12 years in prison at his sentencing in federal court Monday afternoon. Ruben E. Rodriguez, 62, admitted he stole Jackson Memorial Hospital records of patients’ names, addresses, telephone numbers and…
From the frying pan into the fire? When HIPAA and reputation collide
One of the values I find in reading a lot online is that I’ll read something that makes me realize a gap in my own understanding of HIPAA or other issues. In this case, some forum comments and posts made by a doctor raised questions in my mind about whether HIPAA-covered entities fall afoul of…
Ca: Bruyea's lawsuit against feds could be settled out of court, says lawyer
Tim Naumetz reports: The federal government appears ready to settle a $400,000 lawsuit by veterans advocate Sean Bruyea after Privacy Commissioner Jennifer Stoddart’s ruling that the Veterans Affairs Department contravened the Privacy Act by circulating his confidential personal information and medical files. Mr. Bruyea’s lawyer would say only that following a lengthy delay in a…
Tempering justice with mercy?
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…