News4Jax reports: A woman who had access to customers’ personal identifying information while working for Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida in 2011 has pleaded guilty to a federal charge of aggravated identity theft. Laura Butler, 40, faces a maximum penalty of seven years in federal prison with a two-year mandatory minimum prison term. Butler…
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Irish IVF industry slams donor disclosure proposals
Michael Cook reports: Proposed legislation in Ireland which would ban anonymous donation of eggs and sperm has come under fire from the IVF industry. In a hard-hitting op-ed in the Irish Times, Dr John Waterstone, vice president of the Irish Fertility Society, has called upon the Oireachtas (parliament) to scupper the assisted reproduction regulations of the…
IN: St. Mary's Health: Patient information compromised in Email hack
Max Roll reports: Around 4,400 people were recently sent letters by St. Mary’s Medical Center informing them of a cyber attack on several hospital employees’ email accounts that happened in January, according to Randy Capehart, St. Mary’s spokesperson. Hackers gained access to health information contained in the emails, according to Capehart. Patient information was compromised,…
Secret Recording Program Nationwide At VA Medical Care Centers
Benjamin Krause writes: Under the auspices of health care quality improvement, VA medical care centers across the nation are now secretly recording veterans’ appointments with their doctors. The practice started at two Illinois VA facilities connected with VISN 12, Edward Hines VA Medical Center and Jessie Brown Medical Center. Doctors at these two VA medical care facilities agreed…
Medical device surveillance on the horizon
Joe Carlson reports: Thousands of people around the world have been exposed to toxic chemicals generated by their metal hip implants. Similarly, many patients have contracted infections from pieces of implanted mesh used in hernia-repair surgery, even though materials less prone to causing complications were available. […] That’s why harnessing the potential of data on…
OPM OIG: Anthem snubbed our security audits before and after enormous hack attack
Shaun Nichols reports: A year or so before American health insurer Anthem admitted it had been ruthlessly ransacked by hackers, a US federal watchdog had offered to audit the giant’s computer security – but was rebuffed. And, after miscreants looted Anthem’s servers and accessed up to 88.8 million private records, the watchdog again offered to audit the insurer’s systems, and…