Indictments are returned against three Jackson women accused of stealing from a nursing home resident. Jamise James, 28, and Brittany Slaughter, 22, have been arrested. James is charged with conspiracy and fraudulent use of a social security number. Slaughter is charged with conspiracy. Ashley “Pig” Showers, 25,  has not been arrested yet. She fled in a Dodge…
Privacy concerns halt DNA database
Jason Felch of the Los Angeles Times reports: The National Institutes of Health quietly blocked public access to databases of patient DNA profiles after learning of a study that found the genetic information may not be as anonymous as previously believed, the Los Angeles Times has learned. NIH officials took the unusual step on Monday…
New oversight, stiffer penalties approved for snooping into patient records
Patrick McGreevy reports in the Los Angeles Times:
ID theft gets woman uplift, tuck, 9 months in jail
Gary Klien reports in the Marin Independent Journal: A Martinez woman who used another person’s identity to get a $20,000 breast lift and tummy tuck in Greenbrae was sentenced Wednesday to nine months in the Marin County Jail. She nearly got away with it, but a get-well bouquet and a navel itch were her undoing….
UK: Patients’ details lost by hospitals
Neil Macfarlane reports in The Northern Echo: PATIENTS’ representatives have spoken of their outrage after scores of confidential files were lost by North-East NHS trusts. The papers include private data such as medical history notes, prescription charts and laboratory results. Among the missing data is a bundle of 19 files that a consultant left in…
UK: Wirral PCT faces local data privacy backlash
Wirral Primary Care Trust has delayed plans to introduce a telephone support service provided by a US contractor, after a local outcry at plans to transfer extracts from patient records to a private company. The proposed new health coaching service, called ‘Wirral Keep Well’, provided by Health Dialog, a US subsidiary of Bupa that provides…