When backup tapes containing patient information on patients of Peninsula Orthopaedic Associates were stolen while in transit, the practice notified approximately 100,000 patients. Now, Earl Holland reports that the group subsequently discovered that the stolen backup tape also contained credit or debit card information on up to 400 patients. Peninsula Orthopaedic Associates has sent an…
Category: Health Data
IT director pleads guilty to deleting organ donation records (updated)
Not all data losses are created equal. Grant Gross of IDG News Service reports: The former IT director for a nonprofit organ and tissue donation center pleaded guilty to a charge that she broke into the organization’s computer network and deleted organ donation database records, invoice files, and database and accounting software, the U.S. Department…
Employee snooping at Littleton Regional hospital went undetected
When the Littleton Regional Hospital received a complaint from a patient on March 25, they initiated an investigative audit that revealed that the patient’s information had been improperly accessed by a former employee on three separate occasions going back to October 2008. The breach was then promptly reported (pdf) to the patient on March 27…
UK: ICO issues stark reminder to NHS bodies on patient records
From the press release (pdf) from the Information Commissioner’s Office: The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is reminding NHS bodies of the importance of data security having found four more NHS organisations in breach of the Data Protection Act. Cambridge University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, Central Lancashire Primary Care Trust, North West London Hospitals NHS Trust…
UK: 5,600 patients’ records ‘lost’ on memory stick
Claire Lomax of Telegraph & Argus reports that personal information of patients was on an unsecured flash drive lost by an employee of Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust who did not follow procedures. The flash drive, which was reportedly lost in the library at Leeds Metropolitan University on April 21, contained patients’ names, addresses,…
Ca: More patients’ data lost
Adam Huras of The Telegram reports on two small recent breaches in New Brunswick and Ontario involving patient data. In one case, after searching for months to locate missing files of three patients, patients were sent letters notifying them of the loss. That’s when the health authority discovered that one of the three patients had…