Richard L. Santalesa writes: Recently the Indiana legislature passed, and Indiana’s governor signed into law, Senate Enrolled Act No. 356 (a/k/a Public Law 84 of Second Regular Session 116th General Assembly 2010), a wide-ranging 71-page bill that, in addition to setting out practices and requirements for barbers, cosmetologists, well pump installers, mental health counselors and…
Iowa hospitals crack down on employee snooping
Clark Kauffman of the Des Moines Register has a round-up of area hospitals that have fired employees for snooping in patient files: In each of the cases, the workers had unfettered access to portions of patients’ medical records. Some allegedly used that access to snoop through the patient files out of purely personal interest, while…
UK: Royal Wolverhampton breached Data Protection Act – ICO
To follow up on a breach mentioned previously on this site, the Information Commissioner’s Office has found that Royal Wolverhampton Hospitals NHS Trust breached the Data Protection Act (DPA) after the loss of 112 patient records from the Intensive Care Unit of New Cross Hospital’s Heart and Lung Unit. The unencrypted patient records were on…
Ie: Fax leak of patient details 'not an isolated incident'
While there was widespread concern at news last week that confidential patient details had mistakenly been sent from Sligo General Hospital to a private fax in Donegal, it has since emerged that this was not an isolated incident. According to the Sligo Weekender, the newspaper has also received faxes with patient details from the hospital,…
Cardiologist who misused patient info for fraud sentenced
Sushil Sheth, M.D., a Chicago area cardiologist who surrendered his medical license, was sentenced to five years in federal prison for stealing approximately $13 million from Medicare and more than 30 other public and private health care insurance programs over roughly five years. According to a press release issued by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Sheth…
Judge approves Countrywide Financial ID theft settlement
A federal judge on Monday granted final approval to a settlement between Countrywide Financial Corp. and millions of customers left at high risk for identity theft because of a security breach. The breach and terms of the settlement have been previously covered on this site and in PogoWasRight.org’s archives, but the Associated Press story provides…