Search Privacy Violations, Breaches and Complaints
This database was last updated in December 2015 ago and should only be used as a historical snapshot. More recent data on breaches affecting 500 or more people is available at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Breach Portal.
VA Mid South Healthcare Network (VISN 9)
Mentioned in a privacy incident report created by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs on November 21, 2011. Also cited in 328 other reports.
Report ID: SPE000000068873, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
Reported Entity: VISN 09 Huntington, WV
Issue:
When searching some lockers that had been retrieved from storage, our Chief Logistics and others found patient listings in one of the lockers. The locker had been stored at an offsite facility that is shared by the VA facility & active duty personnel. Update: 11/28/11: Employees from the medical center were checking lockers that had been stored at the local Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) building. They discovered documents containing personally identifiable information (PII) on multiple patients. The room that these lockers were stored in is believed to have only been accessible by VA employees. However, it is believed that the lockers were removed from the VA inpatient areas and this would have been done by contractors. The facility is unable to identify who was responsible for leaving the documents in the lockers. 12/01/11: All affected Veterans will be sent letters of notification as their names and medical information were left in these lockers for an undetermined amount of time. The first count is 109 Veterans but there are possible duplicates. When the list is put in a spreadsheet duplicates will be counted and the number will be reduced. 12/09/11: Further investigation revealed that the lockers were moved from a health care employee area in or about May 2011 by VA employees and were relocated to a locked storage facility under control of VA Engineering. Although the potential breach of information cannot be confirmed, notification letters will be sent to the Veterans on the paper documents found. The final count is 67 patients. Thirty two are deceased and their next of kin (NOK) will receive NOK notifications. The remaining thirty five will receive letters of notification.
Outcome:
Unable to determine who might have left these lists in the lockers; SOPs are being developed to ensure furniture is searched prior to being removed from the facility.