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 Health Care Upstate New York (VISN 2)
Mentioned in a privacy incident report created by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs on May 5, 2011. Also cited in 132 other reports.
Report ID: SPE000000062064, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
Reported Entity: VISN 02 Syracuse, NY
Issue:
A Specialty Clinic Nurse Manager reported that a Program Support Assistant (PSA) in her department had accessed medical records of two (2) patients outside her need to know to do her job, thus resulting in a privacy violation. The PSA had inappropriately accessed the medical record of her husband and mother, both patients at the medical center but not patients in the clinic of which the PSA worked. The PSA accessed the medical record of her husband, printed out reports regarding his cardiac history and took them with her. The PSA also accessed the medical record of her mother and ordered a prescription for methotrexate, totally outside the scope of her job. Fortunately the order was intercepted by the Women's Health Clinic and discontinued before processed by the pharmacy. The Nurse Manager has reported the issue to Human Resources and is in the process of pursuing disciplinary action with this employee. Update: 05/05/11:Both patients will be sent notification letters.
Outcome:
The Nurse Manager was in the process of pursuing disciplinary action with HR for the employee when the employee formally resigned an is now no longer working for the medical center.