In a blog post, “500 Is a Magic Number: Health Information Breaches Impacting 499 or Fewer Patients Likely Go Uninvestigated By OCR,” Colin J. Zick of Foley Hoag writes: In the recently-released fiscal 2012 budget for HHS, a dirty little secret has been acknowledged: the Office of Civil Rights does not have the resources to…
Technology would enhance 911 system
Jennifer Learn-Andes reports: Imagine that police, firefighters and emergency workers are racing toward you in response to a 911 call from your landline phone or cell. You may be slipping out of consciousness or unable to speak altogether. Even if you can communicate, you may be too frantic or shocked to think straight. What would…
UK: Renewal applications lost by Passport Service
The Identity and Passport Service (IPS) breached the Data Protection Act by losing the passport renewal applications of 21 individuals, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) said today. The loss occurred in May 2010 at the passport office that was responsible for processing the applications and the ICO was subsequently informed. The missing details included the…
UK: Babies' Bloodspots: time to take consent seriously
Terri Dowty of Action on Rights for Children (ARCH) writes: If you’ve ever had a baby, you will already know about the ‘heel-prick test’. A few days after birth, a small sample of blood is taken from a baby’s heel and transferred to a ‘Guthrie Card’ as a series of blood spots. The blood is…
Howard Brown experiences security breach
Chicago-based Howard Brown Health Center has posted a breach notice on its web site: Dear Howard Brown Donor and Friend, At Howard Brown Health Center, we take the security and privacy of our donors’ information very seriously. Yesterday, we identified a potential breach in our donor database. The donor database that was potentially breached includes personal…
HK: Kwai Chung Hospital reports loss of personal USB flash drive
The spokesperson for Kwai Chung Hospital (KCH) made the following announcement today (February 18) regarding a hospital staff member who lost a USB flash drive containing patients’ data: An occupational therapist at KCH discovered the loss of her personal USB flash drive after getting off a taxi on February 16. She immediately reported the loss…