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 23, 2011. Also cited in 328 other reports.
Report ID: SPE000000068948, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
Reported Entity: VISN 09 Louisville, KY
Issue:
The Privacy Officer (PO) was informed this morning that a VA employee has been taking prescriptions of Veterans and having them filled at outside pharmacies by acting as these Veterans' Caregiver. These Veterans were sent out to other pain clinics in the area due to a backlog in our facility. These were done on a fee basis. The physician at the outside facility would write pain prescriptions for these Veterans and when they were brought back here to be re-written so that VA could fill them, the employee kept the original script and took them to various pharmacies to be filled for herself. This is under local, state and facility police investigation. The PO does not know how many Veterans have been affected at this point. Update: 11/22/11: The employee has admitted to the drug problem and has since resigned. The OIG is not involved at this time. The Kentucky and Indiana State Police are investigating the incident. 11/28/11: The employee's computer access has been terminated. The employee is no longer at the facility, pending investigation by state and local authorities. The Privacy Officer is waiting to hear back from the VA Chief of Police on the number of Veterans affected. 12/05/11: According to the Privacy Officer there are no new updates with regard to this case. The Chief of Pharmacy and the VA Chief of Police have not received any updates from local law enforcement. 12/12/11: The PO has spoke to the VA Police Chief on the morning of 12/12/11 and he indicated that so far, one Veteran has been identified as being affected by this incident; however, the investigation is still open and ongoing. 12/12/11: According to the VA Police only one victim has been identified at this time. Therefore one Veteran will receive a notification letter. Incident is still under investigation.
Outcome:
The employee who acted as Veteran's caregiver in order to get their prescriptions has resigned. Before the time that this employee resigned, their access was immediately pulled. Notification letter has been mailed to Veteran. Investigation is ongoing with outside authorities.