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 Healthcare - VISN 4 (VISN 4)
Mentioned in a privacy incident report created by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs on February 15, 2012. Also cited in 239 other reports.
Report ID: SPE000000071811, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
Reported Entity: VISN 04 Lebanon, PA
Issue:
Patient A came to the Pharmacy window to pick up his prescriptions. The Pharmacy technician verified Patient A's ID and reviewed the medications, but when retrieving the bag of medications, the Pharmacy technician pulled out a bag of medications for Patient B and scanned them out of the system. Shortly after leaving the Pharmacy, Patient A realized he had the incorrect bag of medications and returned the bag of medications to the Pharmacy. Patient B's name, address and type of medication was compromised. Update: 02/15/12:Patient B will be sent a notification letter.NOTE: There were a total of 92 Mis-Handling incidents this reporting period. Because of repetition, the other 91 are not included in this report, but are included in the "Mis-Handling Incidents" count at the end of this report. In all incidents, Veterans will receive a notification letter and/or credit monitoring will be offered if appropriate.
Outcome:
The Pharmacy technician was reminded of the importance of ensuring that the correct patient gets the correct medications.