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This Should NEVER Happen W
By Steffen Schmidt and Michael McCoy
HEN WE FOUND out about the latest medical security breach, all we could say was, "We told
you so!" And we have. In our online identity theft and data
security awareness certification pro- gram, we stress the risks of all sorts of data and critical information losses. According to Boston.com, "A doctor
who works at a well-known hospital in the Boston area lost an external hard drive, and the computer device may
have contained medical information for 638 patients." The hospital then sent letters to the
affected patients describing the problem and provided a toll-free number for them to call and ask questions because, clearly, people needed an answer to the most urgent question: "Am I at risk of identity theft or financial loss?" The Boston.com story relates that,
"Information related to inpatient hospital stays may have been on the device, including patient names, medical record numbers, dates of admission, medica-
tions, and information about diagnosis and treatment. The device did not con- tain Social Security numbers, insurance numbers or other financial account information." The doctor apparently "lost the hard drive while traveling in Mexico." " … Hospital officials said the physi-
cian had previously taken steps to delete patient information from the device, so the chances of information remaining on it are low." However, the chances of the informa- tion still remaining are relatively high.
14 | Twin Cities MD NEWS MDNEWS.COM
