Speaking of the risk of mobile devices… Lahey Clinic reports that on July 1, a physician lost a Blackberry (or it was stolen) at an airport in France. On it were patients’ names, dates of birth, Lahey medical record numbers, diagnosis, and procedure names/test results. The clinic did a remote wipe of all of the…
Category: Health Data
Insider breach at Quest Diagnostics results in notification to patients
Yet another insider breach – this one at New Jersey-based Quest Diagnostics. On August 17, Quest notified the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office that in late July, it became aware that an employee had forwarded certain e-mails to their home personal account. Included in the e-mails were patients’ names, addresses, dates of birth, Social Security…
Feinstein Institute for Medical Research notifies 13,000 research participants after laptop with PHI stolen from employee's car
A press release from the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research: After learning that a laptop containing research study information was stolen from an employee’s car, the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research announced today it is sending letters to some research participants, advising of the possible disclosure of some personal and health information. “Although both the computer…
Sheffield Council investigating breach involving confidential paperwork of mental health patients
The Sheffield Telegraph reports: Sheffield Council could be fined up to half a million pounds for breach of the Data Protection Act after confidential paperwork about mental health patients was found ‘blowing around’ a city centre street. Well yes, it’s pretty much true for any breach that the entity could be fined and the maximum…
Patient privacy violated dozens of times at rural clinic
CBC reports another breach involving employees of Eastern Health Authority: Eastern Health revealed Monday that the private health information of as many as 46 patients may have been breached at an unnamed rural clinic. “One employee has been terminated as a result of the investigation while the other resigned,” Eastern Health said in a statement….
HIV researcher warns against protracted data freeze
Tara Carman reports that researchers are concerned over a halt to sharing data in the wake of reports of inappropriate access: A freeze on access to medical data from the B.C. government has the potential to seriously undermine the health care system if it goes on too long, a prominent Vancouver medical researcher said Friday….