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.
Northwest Network (VISN 20)
Mentioned in a privacy incident report created by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs on September 26, 2012. Also cited in 208 other reports.
Report ID: SPE000000080559, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
Reported Entity: VISN 20 Walla Walla, WA
Issue:
A letter with (negative) HIV results written to Veteran A from his provider was sent in error to Veteran B who has the same provider. Veteran B's spouse called to inform Alternate Privacy Officer of this error. The Alternate Privacy Officer informed this person to mail the information back, so that we could get this information to Veteran A. Update: 09/27/12:Due to full SSN and medical information being disclosed, Veteran A will be sent a letter offering credit protection services.
Outcome:
On October 1, 2012, PO mailed out the credit monitoring letter to the Veteran. I have also uploaded a copy of the redacted letter in this program. I have talked to the clerk that was working at the team on that date. I also emailed the supervisor for the MSA's to bring up at their next staff meeting (which should be tomorrow) to be sure all clerks are double checking that only one Veteran's information is being sent out to that particular veteran. To double check that no other Veteran information is included.