Category: Health Data

Hundreds of medical records found unshredded in the trash.  Again. This time it’s Samaritan Family Medicine Resident Clinic, part of Samaritan Health Services. Police were called but did nothing because, once again, no law was broken. It is disturbing that in 2013, most states still do not have data security or breach laws that include paper…

The government has moved to dismiss a potential class action lawsuit after the theft of a laptop with PHI from the Dorn V.A.  Medical Center. Their argument: plaintiffs have not demonstrated that the information has fallen into the wrong hands or caused any actual harm to plaintiffs. Read more on Main Justice.

California’s Department of Public Health (CDPH) has fined nine hospitals this year for failure to prevent unauthorized access to patient medical information, as required by Section 1280.15 of California’s Health and Safety Code.  The fines were issued for breaches reported in previous years. Frustratingly, the state’s web page that reports the penalties and underlying reports…

There are some details I routinely look for in breach reports.  So when I saw a breach report yesterday that indicated the breach occurred in August 2011 and wasn’t discovered until June 27, 2013, it caught my eye. According to a letter sent this week to affected customers and patients,  San Jose Medical Supply Company…

This “human error” thing is getting tiring. Requests from patients for medical records are a routine task for hospitals.  “I went to the hospital and was given a form to fill out for medical records,” said Micki Thoms. Thoms asked for her records after undergoing surgery at Regional Medical Center Bayonet Point in Hudson, and…

A nurse from Staten Island, New York has been charged with stealing the identity information of 80 patients at South Shore Physicians, P.C., the medical practice where she was employed between 2004 and 2012.  Read more on NY Post.