George Greenwood reports: A foster family received death threats after their details were accidentally released by a hospital. Their names, address and mobile phone numbers were disclosed to the birth family of a child they were caring for, forcing them to leave their home. Across London, reports of data breaches in child protection departments are…
Category: Healthcare
Facebook sent a doctor on a secret mission to ask hospitals to share patient data
Christina Farr reports: Facebook has asked several major U.S. hospitals to share anonymized data about their patients, such as illnesses and prescription info, for a proposed research project. Facebook was intending to match it up with user data it had collected, and help the hospitals figure out which patients might need special care or treatment….
Medical Ethics: UK Uses Data From Doctors to Find Migrants
AP reports: To track down people in Britain who may have broken immigration rules, the government is turning to a new and controversial source of information: doctors. Doctors who work with refugees and asylum-seekers have described the move as a major breach of medical ethics, saying it isn’t up to physicians to enforce immigration rules….
Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker signs law improving patient privacy in health insurance
Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker on Friday signed a bill providing people with more privacy from their health insurance companies. The new law, the so-called PATCH Act, seeks to ensure that patients have the ability to request that a summary of payment form for their health insurance be sent directly to them, not to the policyholder of their insurance….