Chelsea Conaboy reports: While at a conference in Buenos Aires, a Boston Children’s Hospital employee lost a laptop containing a file with information about 2,159 patients, including names, birth dates, diagnoses, and treatment information. The laptop was password protected but not encrypted, according to a hospital press release. Read more on The Boston Globe. So…
Category: Health Data
A UCLA Health System audit report with limited patient info posted online
Sometimes we find out about breaches from student publications. Daily Bruin reporter Kylie Reynolds writes: A UCLA Health System audit report containing private patient information was posted online earlier this month, though it remains unclear how many people were affected, according to a letter from a health system official obtained by the Daily Bruin. The…
UK: London NHS Trust fined £90,000 for serious data breach (updated)
Central London Community Healthcare (CLCH) NHS Trust has been fined £90,000 following a serious breach of the Data Protection Act (DPA), the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) announced today. The breach first occurred in March last year, after patient lists from the Pembridge Palliative Care Unit, intended for St John’s Hospice, were faxed to the wrong recipient. The…
A breach avoided
It seems there was a near-miss at a VA hospital in Maine last month. But an alert housekeeping employee noticed that patient records had been thrown in a dumpster, notified the right person, and everything was recovered with no public exposure. Mistakes happen. Creating a culture where all employees know about privacy protection and what…
Hospital worker at Massachusetts Eye and Ear charged with ID theft
Jack Encarnacao reports: Police say a Quincy woman who worked at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary and her brother used stolen patient information to open fake National Grid accounts that allowed them to dodge paying for electricity. Fallon and Emmanuel Delacruz of 270 Quarry St. have been charged with identity theft and larceny. Fallon…
UnitedHealthcare employee stole personal and Medicare information
From LocalNews8: UnitedHealthcare said some Idaho customers enrolled in its Medicare plans may have had their identities stolen. “On Jan. 30, 2012, the company discovered that a former employee, during the course of his employment, may have accessed information in a database in a way that was inconsistent with his job duties,” the company said…