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-Atlantic Health Care Network (VISN 6)
Mentioned in a privacy incident report created by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs on March 28, 2013. Also cited in 187 other reports.
Report ID: PSETS0000087317, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
Reported Entity: VISN 06 Beckley, WV
Issue:
On 03/26/13 at approximately 6:45 AM, VA Employee A Phlebotomist asked a Veteran his full SSN in front of other patients according to VA Employee B Phlebotomist. Update: 03/28/13: One Veteran will be sent a letter offering credit protection services.
Outcome:
On 3/28/13 PO sent VA Employee A Phlebotomist an e-mail stressing to her not to verbally ask the Veteran to provide his full SSN with other people around because it's a breach of his privacy. On 3/29/13 VA Employee A Phlebotomist came up at 8:30 a.m. with a Union representative. VA Employee A Phlebotomist denies that she asked any veteran to speak full SSN. She said she knows better than to do that. She was quite upset about this occurrence because there have/are other issues going on in the lab. PO wasn\xe2\x80\x99t aware that there were issues among employees in the lab but she started telling PO a few things. PO was able to bring her back to the focus of our meeting. PO told her that on this incident whether or not it\xe2\x80\x99s true, PO has a standard procedure to follow. PO had to file a privacy ticket. No names are mentioned in the ticket. PO had to call the veteran and no names were mentioned with the veteran. PO has to give Veteran a year of free credit monitoring. It\xe2\x80\x99s all procedure solely because PO was told that VA Employee A Phlebotomist verbally asked a veteran to speak his full SSN. Once the letter goes out then the privacy ticket will be closed showing that we talked and education was provided about not asking the veteran to provide his full SSN. PO told VA Employee A Phlebotomist that in the privacy ticket I would say that she denied doing this which she does deny it. VA Employee A Phlebotomist said she has a meeting with supervisor Pharmacy Chief today and she will address it with her. She said supervisor Pharmacy Chief is aware of the lab staff problems. PO didn\xe2\x80\x99t tell VA Employee A Phlebotomist who reported her. She thought it might have been the veteran and PO told her no. She said well then it had to be one of the two co-workers. PO told her that supervisor Pharmacy Chief received an email from an VA Employee B Phlebotomist and then supervisor Pharmacy Chief sent PO an e-mail informing PO of the incident.