Cindy E. Harnett reports: A year-long investigation into an alleged privacy breach in the Health Ministry has cost about $2.5 million – and has yet to produce a final report for the public or police. The investigation has been large and complex, says the Health Ministry, and there are costs associated with delving into it…
Category: Health Data
Bon Secours Notifying Patients of Information Security Breach
The Bon Secours Hampton Roads Health System posted this notice on Wednesday: Bon Secours Hampton Roads Health System officials announced today that they are proactively contacting former patients via letters on behalf of Bon Secours Mary Immaculate Hospital to inform them of an electronic medical records security breach. The health system has contracted the services…
In the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, a hospital reports a breach
I’ve occasionally blogged about the risks of breaches following major storms or weather events. Today I’ve learned that at least one New York hospital suffered a breach after Hurricane Sandy. Due to the storm surge, Coney Island Hospital’s Ida G. Israel Community Health Center in Brooklyn experienced structural damage. The New York City Health & Hospitals…
University Dental Associates LLP notified 2,400 patients of stolen laptop
In December, 2012, University Dental Associates at the Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn, New York notified 2,400 patients that a laptop containing their PHI had been stolen from their office. Although the theft both occurred and was discovered on November 21, it was not reported to the NYPD until November 26, 2012. The computer was…
Oral surgeon notifies former patients after laptop with their PHI was stolen from his office (updated)
Closing a private practice is not the end of our data security concerns, as a breach earlier this year reminds us. In January, attorneys for Lee D. Pollan, DMD, PC notified the NYS Division of Consumer Protection that PHI of 13,806 former patients was on a missing laptop. The laptop reportedly went missing from the…
Lawsuits taking a different tack following healthcare data breaches
Jacob Hale Russell of Thomson Reuters reports that because data breach lawsuits generally get dismissed if plaintiffs cannot show financial harm, lawyers are shifting away from lawsuits based on privacy claims to lawsuits based on theories: But plaintiffs’ lawyers of late have been switching tack: Rather than framing lawsuits stemming from data breaches as privacy…