Nathan Freed Wessler of the ACLU writes: I will be in federal district court in Oregon today for oral argument in the ACLU’s challenge to the Drug Enforcement Administration’s practice of obtaining Oregon patients’ confidential prescription records without a warrant. We represent patients and a doctor whose prescriptions are tracked in the Oregon Prescription Drug Monitoring Program…
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Update: Former Virginia Beach General Hospital nurse's aide sentenced for using patients’ personal info to commit tax fraud
Doris Taylor reports: A former nurse aide for Sentara’s Virginia Beach General Hospital was sentenced to 81 months in prison for using patients’ personal information to submit fraudulent federal tax returns with the IRS. They say 36-year-old Emmanuel Effiong and another aide, Festus Ighalo are originally from Nigeria and are now U.S. citizens. Officials say the two aides…
Edgepark Medical Supplies notifies patients after malware may have compromised their personal information
Edgepark Medical Supplies in Ohio (RGH Enterprises) is notifying some patients that their personal information, including full credit card number in approximately 126 cases, may have been acquired in March 2013 due to a malware infection that evaded detection by their anti-virus software until December 2013. Upon discovery, the malware was removed and patients’ passwords…
HHS Issues Proposed Rule on HIPAA and Firearm Background Check Reporting
Rachel Grunberger and Anna Kraus write: On January 7, 2014, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) published a notice of proposed rulemaking to modify the HIPAA Privacy Rule to expressly allow certain disclosures to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS). As we previously reported, this was one of the executive actions…
How our private medical data gets collected and sold
Frances Stotter effectively makes some points about your medical privacy – or lack thereof: Last year, I saw doctors more than usual. One major problem has been my back. So, I got the spinal injections in June. Soon, the ads flooded in, through every medium, TV, Internet, and US mail. They were, and still are,…
Where there's a breach, there are lawyers, Sunday edition
Despite a recent ruling making it harder for plaintiffs to get statutory damages under the California Medical Information Act, lawyers still seem to be eager to file class action lawsuits against California hospitals. Given California’s stricter breach notification requirements, I can almost see why. See this press release recruiting potential plaintiffs or class members as an…