Category: Health Data

This is one of the incidents for which we previously had no details. Gene S. J. Liaw, M.D., a Washington physician, reported an incident involving a lost device to the U.S. Dept. of Health & Human Services and they summarized the incident this way: An unencrypted USB drive used to store patient information could not…

When HHS’s breach tool reveals a breach I was not already aware of, I try to investigate or find media sources. Sometimes, despite my efforts, I can find nothing online to clarify a breach report. In some cases, I write to the organizations, who may – or may not – answer. Here are some breaches…

Logan County Emergeny Ambulance Service Authority in West Virginia notified HHS that a missing laptop contained protected health information on 12,563. The only coverage I can find on this was in the Logan Banner on November 18.  Martha Sparks reported: Area residents who have been serviced by LEASA (Logan Emergency Ambulance Service Authority) may have their…

Helen Perkins reports: A government watchdog has launched an investigation into an incident where midwives emailed an crudely-titled file with confidential patient details to an unknown party. The Health Service Ombudsman plans to probe staff at Furness General Hospital over a breach of data protection. Despite its confidential nature, an email by the University Hospitals…

Sarah Ganim reports: A Penn State Hershey Medical Center employee has been fired for allegedly accessing Joe Paterno’s billing and registration records without permission, according to a source with direct knowledge of the breach. It happened the day after the 84-year-old was fired from his longtime Penn State head football coaching job, but two days…

Kirsty Gibbins reports: A county woman left permanently disabled after an operation is battling a dental consultant she claims “humiliated and harassed” her by using her confidential medical information without consent. Lisa McIntosh, of Haddington, underwent a temporomandibular joint (TMJ) operation on her jaw in 2003, which left her blind in her right eye, with…