Seen in today’s Arizona Daily Star: After a security breach, Apria Healthcare is offering 11,000 affected patients free credit monitoring. The California-based healthcare company says 4,178 patients in Arizona were affected, including 1,100 in Southern Arizona. The company offers home healthcare services and products, including home oxygen therapy, sleep apnea equipment, home medical equipment and…
Category: Health Data
Phlebotomist sentenced for role in ID theft/fraud scheme
The Associated Press is reporting that Fairon Williams, a phlebotomist from Norfolk, Virginia, was sentenced to two years in prison. Williams had pleaded guilty in federal court on May 1 to engaging in aggravated identity theft while working in an unnamed medical office. Two years was the maximum mandatory sentence she faced. The AP report does…
Update: St. Louis-area women sue surgeon after she puts photos of their breasts on the Web
There’s more on a lawsuit previously mentioned on this blog, where patients sued a cosmetic surgeon, Dr. Michele Koo, for uploading before/after pictures to the Internet that could be found by a Google search on the patients’ names. The problem, at least in some cases, occurred because the patients’ names were embedded in the photos’…
Ca: Dumpster records doctor will not be charged
The Regina Leader-Post staff reports the follow-up on a Saskatchewan breach reported previously on this blog: The doctor who was responsible for patient files found in a Regina recycling bin last March will not be charged. The provincial Information and Privacy Commissioner Gary Dickson conducted a four-month investigation last year and recommended that the Minister…
CA: Audit Reveals Records Leak At Local Hospital
On the value of routine audits. Seek and ye may find…. Judy Bowers reports: Bear Valley Community Hospital contacted 102 patients to let them know their medical records had been breached. Rudy Shutta, acting CEO of Bear Valley Community Healthcare District and the chief financial officer, said the breach was discovered following a routine audit….
Medical ID theft victim can sue bank and credit rating agency for reporting false information to credit agencies
The frustrating saga of Eric Drew, a cancer patient who had his identity stolen by a hospital worker, continues. Annie Youderian of Courthouse News reports: A cancer survivor whose identity was stolen by a hospital worker can sue Chase Bank and a credit service company for reporting false information to credit-rating agencies, the 9th Circuit…