Breach, Data Security

Laptop hosting patient data stolen from surgeon on vacation

A surgeon's laptop containing the personal information of patients was stolen while he was on vacation.

How many victims? 4,000 patients.

What type of personal information? Names, ages, Social Security numbers, and types of surgery.

What happened? While on vacation in Hawaii, a surgeon for the Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU) had his laptop stolen, which contained patient records.

What was the response? Free identity theft monitoring will be offered to patients whose Social Security numbers are breached.

Details: Thus far, 17 patients have had Social Security numbers breached. According to Ronald Marcum, OHSU privacy officer, most of the affected patients whose records were compromised face low risk of ID theft.

Source: The Columbian, www.columbian.com, “Patients' records in surgeon's stolen laptop.” March 26, 2013.

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