Shelia M. Poole reports: A U.S. District Court judge has dismissed a lawsuit against the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention filed by an Atlanta lawyer who claimed the agency invaded his privacy. The lawsuit stemmed from a high-profile case involving Andrew Speaker, who alleged the federal agency divulged private medical information during a tuberculosis…
Former Johns Hopkins Hospital employee sentenced
The U. of Utah defendants were not the only hospital-breach defendants sentenced this week. Michelle Courtney Johnson, a former patient services coordinator at Johns Hopkins Hospital who was part of an ID theft ring with an employee of Crawford & Company was also sentenced this week. The Associated Press reports that Johnson was sentenced to…
Sentencing in U. of Utah Hospitals and Clinics case
Back in June 2008, the University of Utah Hospitals and Clinics revealed that a backup tape containing billing records, medical codes, and Social Security numbers on 2.2 million patients was stolen from the vehicle of one of their contractors, Perpetual Storage. The tape was returned a month later after those receiving the stolen tapes understood…
41% of workers have stolen corporate data – survey
From Cyber-Ark Software’s press release: Stealing employer data has become endemic in our culture. According to a survey conducted with 300 office workers in New York City examining the impact of the recession on ethics and security, 85 percent of the respondents admitted to knowing that downloading corporate information from their employer was illegal, yet…
Groups seek CVS Caremark privacy violation probe
As a follow-up and update to a complaint initially reported here, Dinah Wisenberg Brin of Dow Jones Newswires reports: Consumer advocates and a national pharmacists’ group have asked the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Health and Human Services to investigate possible violations of U.S. health-privacy rules by CVS Caremark Corp. (CVS), the combined…
Tracking pharmacy records run amok
Mark Nestmann blogs: How many felonies have you committed today? If you’re like most Americans, you probably violate federal or state law several times each day, without even knowing it. Just ask Sally Harpold. A resident of Clinton, Indiana, Sally purchased some cold medicine for her husband back in March. A few days later, she…