Valley Community Healthcare in California is notifying some patients who underwent cardiogram testing. In a letter dated March 9, Paul Wilson, President/CEO and Roger A. Meeks, M.D., Chief Medical Officer, informed patients: On February 24, 2015 we discovered that a laptop computer attached to the Electrocardiogram (EKG) machine in the General Medicine department was missing. The…
Category: Health Data
Sonoma County social worker sued for snooping in applicant’s files
Sometimes employees snoop in healthcare or government databases just out of curiosity. Other times, they snoop to obtain information to misuse. That misuse could involve financial fraud such as tax refund fraud, or it could involve tormenting your neighbor, according to a lawsuit in Santa Rosa, California. Paul Payne of the Press Democrat reported on a case…
Tort of intrusion upon seclusion and breaches of personal health information: the Court of Appeal decision in Hopkins v. Kay
Analysis of Hopkins v. Kay, this by Bradley J. Freedman, Barry Glaspell and Patrick Hawkins of Borden Ladner Gervais LLP: … In Hopkins v. Kay, a patient of a hospital, on her own behalf and that of other patients in the “class” proposed to be certified by the court, alleged that her hospital records had been accessed by…
NC: Nurse, pastor’s wife pleads guilty to ID theft
Diane Turbyfill reports: A Belmont woman used her position as a nurse and pastor’s wife to defraud two elderly people. Deborah Costner Taylor pleaded guilty in court Friday to identity theft and obtaining property by false pretense. […] She is married to the pastor of East Belmont Baptist Church and worked at CaroMont Regional Medical…
US watchdog: Anthem snubbed our security audits before and after enormous hack attack
Shaun Nichols reports: A year or so before American health insurer Anthem admitted it had been ruthlessly ransacked by hackers, a US federal watchdog had offered to audit the giant’s computer security – but was rebuffed. And, after miscreants looted Anthem’s servers and accessed up to 88.8 million private records, the watchdog again offered to audit the insurer’s…
Complicated relationships and breach notification requirements
A notification to the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office from McDermott Will & Emery LLP provides a useful illustration of how some organizations may be struggling to determine their notification obligations to states as a result of the Anthem breach: If a law firm has trouble figuring out their obligations, can you imagine what others are struggling with? Coincidentally, perhaps, an attorney at…