Last week, I posted a news item about how medical ID theft victims were getting victimized twice – once by the criminal and once by those hospitals that interpret HIPAA as barring them from showing patients their own records if they contain information on another patient – even if that patient is the ID thief….
Former hospital administrator who fired two whistleblower nurses gets jail time for his abuse of official capacity
It’s nice to see a small measure of justice occasionally. Back in 2009, I covered a report about two nurses, subsequently identified as Anne Mitchell, RN and Vickilyn Galle, RN, who were facing jail time for reporting a physician, Dr. Rolando Arafiles, to the Texas Medical Board. According to investigators with the Attorney General’s Office,…
OR: Soldier’s personal records surface at Goodwill store
How exactly did a binder full of military records end up at a Goodwill store in Hillsboro? That’s the question Amanda Wade asked herself during a recent trip to the store. She stumbled upon a binder that was loaded with dozens of military records for a man named Timothy Mallams. It had everything an ID…
ICO confirms another data breach fine in the offing
Dan Worth reports: Information commissioner Christopher Graham has revealed that the watchdog is to fine a fifth organisation for breaching the Data Protection Act. Graham said at a Westminster Forum event on Tuesday that the issuing of another fine will remind data controllers that the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is not a toothless regulator. Read…
MI: Bloomfield Hills Schools exposes employees’ names and Social Security numbers to parents
Bill Laitner reports that a response to a freedom of information request provided more information than it should have: The Bloomfield Hills School District accidentally revealed the names and Social Security numbers of 321 employees to two district parents who requested the number of staff whose salaries and benefits totaled $100,000 or more. When parent…
UK: Security scare as council loses memory stick containing medical info and access codes to the homes of thousands of vulnerable people
The Daily Mail reports: A council has lost a memory stick containing home security codes and medical information for thousands of elderly people.The data device holds the medical details on 4,000 people looked after by Leicester City Council support service as well as 2,000 key codes which can be used to gain access to their…