Alex Ballingall reports: Data storage sticks that contain personal and medical information on about 18,000 patients at Toronto Western Hospital’s Donald K. Johnson Eye Centre have gone missing, prompting an apology from the facility’s chief doctor and an investigation by the Ontario privacy watchdog. In an Oct. 17 letter to patients, ophthalmologist-in-chief Dr. Robert Devenyi said a…
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ZA: Hospital ‘loses’ crash victims’ files
Nondumiso Mbuyazi reports: Medical records of three Field’s Hill accident survivors are missing from King Edward Hospital. The survivors of the horrific Pinetown truck accident were being treated at the hospital for weeks after the September 5 accident that claimed the lives of 24 people. However, they were told last week that their medical records…
CT health insurance database aims at cost transparency, despite privacy concerns
Arielle Levin Becker reports on privacy concerns about Connecticut’s development of an all-payers claim database: […] But Dr. Susan Israel, who said she had been following patients’ “privacy rights, or lack thereof,” said it was important to know who would be handling patient data that hadn’t been de-identified. “The public really needs to understand, first…
Ca: AHS cited for privacy breach after devastating Shaw fire
I’ve occasionally noted the problems that may arise following a natural disaster. Here’s a case where a health service did its best to ensure patient care following a massive outage due to fire. Although they had a plan in place, the commissioner’s investigation found that the plan was not sufficiently comprehensive, was not understood by…
UK: ICO follow-up on Burnett Practice undertaking
In April, I noted that the Burnett Practice had signed an undertaking with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) after an email account they used to notify patients of upcoming appointments was hacked. Today, the ICO posted a summary of their follow-up to ensure that the practice complied with the undertaking. Given that the follow-up actions by…
Hong Kong Hospital Authority violated Data Protection Ordinance – Privacy Commissioner
The Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data in Hong Kong has published a report on an investigation into the Hospital Authority’s data security practices. The investigation arose after two incidents in 2012 when a passerby found patient information from two hospitals in the street near the Hospital Authority’s contractor for shredding services. The…