Joan Mazzolini reports: The Cleveland Veterans Affairs hospital is investigating whether employees snooped in serial killing suspect Anthony Sowell’s private medical records. A spokeswoman for the Stokes Cleveland VA Medical Center confirmed that an investigation was under way. It was unclear if it is an internal investigation or if federal VA authorities were called in….
Category: Health Data
CA: OB/GYN accused of patient ID theft for drugs
As a follow-up to a case previously mentioned on this site, Michelle Tuzee reports on the case of Dr. Lisa Michelle Barden, a physician who was arrested in January for stealing patients’ identities to support her drug habit. Barden is charged with 276 felonies, including identity theft, forgery, burglary and possession of controlled substances. Court…
Judge dismisses Andrew Speaker suit against CDC
Shelia M. Poole reports: A U.S. District Court judge has dismissed a lawsuit against the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention filed by an Atlanta lawyer who claimed the agency invaded his privacy. The lawsuit stemmed from a high-profile case involving Andrew Speaker, who alleged the federal agency divulged private medical information during a tuberculosis…
Former Johns Hopkins Hospital employee sentenced
The U. of Utah defendants were not the only hospital-breach defendants sentenced this week. Michelle Courtney Johnson, a former patient services coordinator at Johns Hopkins Hospital who was part of an ID theft ring with an employee of Crawford & Company was also sentenced this week. The Associated Press reports that Johnson was sentenced to…
Sentencing in U. of Utah Hospitals and Clinics case
Back in June 2008, the University of Utah Hospitals and Clinics revealed that a backup tape containing billing records, medical codes, and Social Security numbers on 2.2 million patients was stolen from the vehicle of one of their contractors, Perpetual Storage. The tape was returned a month later after those receiving the stolen tapes understood…
AMA meeting: Better data protection needed from Blues
Damon Adams reports: The BlueCross BlueShield Assn. should expand credit protection and increase identity theft insurance to physicians affected when a laptop computer containing doctors’ personal information was stolen from an employee’s car, according to policy adopted by the American Medical Association House of Delegates. The new policy calls for the Blues association to offer…