Boston Injury Lawyer Blog

Earlier this year, we published a post on our Boston Injury Lawyer Blog letting you know that patients whose medical records have been lost by a hospital have a right to file a Massachusetts breach of privacy complaint seeking damages. Having unauthorized persons obtain access to this information is no laughing matter. Not only do you not want anyone to know about your medical history, but also, there may be other confidential information, such as your social security number and other private data that you wouldn’t want to end up in the wrong hands.

Today, The Boston Globe reported on a Massachusetts hospital negligence complaint accusing Tufts Medical Center and a primary care physician there of breach of privacy. The plaintiff, 44-year-old Middleborough resident Kimberly White, is claiming that the defendants faxed her medical history and other documents without her permission to her workplace.

White says that the mistake happened after she asked Dr. Kimberly Schelling to send a form for her disability claim to her employer. Instead, the hospital sent over four pages of White’s medical records to a shared fax machine at her place of work. She calls the information “extremely embarrassing” and said that coworkers ended up seeing her medical records. White says that this mistake has impacted her career and exacerbated her medical condition. She also says that she is too embarrassed to go back to her work now that there are people there who know this information.

White is seeking punitive damages. Meantime, the hospital maintains that it did nothing wrong and merely complied with White’s request to provide the information.

Breach of Privacy
Sometimes, an administrative error or inadequate procedures allows this type of breach of privacy to happen. In other instances, the mistake might be human. For instance, Massachusetts General Hospital settled for $1 million a federal breach of privacy case over an employee who left the records of 192 infectious deceased patients on the Red Line.

Lawsuit alleges Tufts faxed patient records to workplace without permission, Boston.com, July 14, 2011

MGH Settles For $1M Over Lost HIV/AIDS Records, WBUR, February 25, 2011

Related Web Resources:
Attorney General Martha Coakley, Mass.gov

http://www.tuftsmedicalcenter.org/default">Tufts Medical Center

More Blog Posts:
Did You Know That If A Massachusetts Hospital Loses Your Medical Records You Have the Right to Sue?, Boston Injury Lawyer Blog, March 8, 2011

$2.6M Worcester, Massachusetts Medical Malpractice Verdict Awarded to Man Who Ended Up with Surgical Tack Inside His Small Bowel, Boston Injury Lawyer Blog, June 23, 2011

Boston Personal Injury?: Use of Psychotropic Drugs Can Prove Fatal for Some Elderly Patients, Boston Injury Lawyer Blog, March 30, 2011

Continue reading "Middleborough Woman Sues Tufts Medical Center for Breach of Privacy and Seeks Punitive Damages " »

Last year, South Shore Hospital in Weymouth admitted to losing more than 800,000 patient health records. While the hospital admitted this mistake to Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley and the public, it never directly notified each person whose medical records had been lost. Most of those affected by this Massachusetts hospital negligence also likely didn’t realize that they are entitled to sue over this breach of privacy.

Although the hospital decided to invoke a provision under state law that allows consumers to be told of such breaches through the “substitute notice” process—in this case, the media, e-mail, and the hospital’s Web site—Coakley’s office made it clear that it did not agree with the way that the Weymouth hospital chose to notify those who were affected.

The records that the South Shore hospital lost were computer files containing personal information belonging to patients, doctors, employees, donors, volunteers, vendors, and business partners. This information included names, Social Security numbers, birth dates, phone numbers, driver’s license numbers, patient numbers, medical record numbers, health plan information, diagnoses and treatment information, dates of service, and credit card information found in files for the period of January 1, 1996 to January 6, 2010. The information went missing early last year as data was being shipped to a contractor that was supposed to destroy them.

While experts have said that opening and deciphering the files would be tough unless the person were in possession of certain high-tech skills, the loss of these medical records is still a blatant breach of privacy. Unfortunately, it is not uncommon for hospitals to lose or mishandle medical records. It is just that in most instances, they are not held accountable. Filing a Boston hospital negligence lawsuit would allow someone whose records were stolen do just that. It also may be the only way to get hospitals to set up systems and procedures to stop this type of breach from happening. No one wants to find that they are now the victim of identity theft because a hospital didn't protect their private information.

Our Boston personal injury law firm would like to offer you a free consultation to discuss your legal options.

Hospital says 800K records may be missing, Boston.com, July 19, 2010

Attorney General Martha Coakley: 800,000 Consumers Affected by South Shore Hospital Data Breach to Receive Substitute Notification, Mass.gov, September 8, 2010

Related Web Resources:
Delayed Compliance with New Regulations Has Increased Data Breaches and Medical Identity Theft in U.S. Hospitals, Identity Theft Daily News, April 20, 2010

South Shore Hospital in Weymouth