Murray Brewster reports what is undoubtedly a lame and disappointing response to an egregious privacy breach: Veterans Affairs bureaucrats who rifled through the personal files of a department critic were handed written reprimands and three-day suspensions – penalties the victim calls a “slap on the wrist.” An internal investigation found 54 veterans bureaucrats improperly snooped…
Category: Health Data
Ca: Central Health employee terminated for privacy breach
Kevin Higgins reports: Central Health played its zero tolerance card March 7, terminating an employee of James Paton Memorial Regional Health Centre for breaches of privacy. The health authority’s chief executive officer, Karen McGrath, said the employee “inappropriately accessed” personal health information of at least 80 reports belonging to at least 19 different people during…
Activist’s Hospital Records Stolen: “I Am Fearful For My Life; I Am Under Psychological Pressure From Security Forces”
This is not the typical kind of medical privacy breach that I post to this blog, but it’s a reminder that there are many types of privacy breaches and some may be particularly malignant: Following news that security forces stole Narges Mohammadi’s medical records, she spoke the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran about…
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida notifies almost 7,400 members that their EOBs were sent to wrong addresses
A press release issued by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida, seen on SacBee: In late January 2011, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida (BCBSF) discovered that, because of a system error, it had inadvertently mailed some member health information to incorrect addresses. BCBSF regrets that this error occurred. BCBSF fixed the issue the…
Laptop containing unencrypted L.A. County patient records stolen
A laptop computer containing more than 660 patient names and diagnostic information was stolen last month from Rancho Los Amigos National Rehabilitation Center in Downey, Los Angeles County health officials confirmed Friday. At least 667 patient records were on the stolen laptop, which included names, dates of birth and medical record information, said county Department…
Cord Blood Registry notifies 300,000 of stolen backup tapes
I first became aware of the following breach from DataLossDB.org. It was reported to them by one of those affected who also reported it on ScamSafe: ScamSafe appears to be the first to report a serious data breach at Cord Blood Registry (www.cordblood.com). No mention has been found of this breach in the news or…