Boston Children's Hospital notifies 2K patients of breach
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The password protected yet not encrypted laptop was in the possession of a Boston Children’s staff member attending a conference in Buenos Aires, according to a release from the organization. A file containing patient information had been sent to the laptop as an email attachment. The file was not de-identified and the patient information included name, medical record number, date of birth, diagnosis, procedure and date of surgery.
“No patient financial data or Social Security numbers were involved. It was determined that although the file was not saved to the laptop’s hard drive, it was still on the laptop in the email attachment at the time of the theft,” the release stated.
After investigation, Boston Children’s staff were unable to determine whether the file was accessible on the laptop.
“We take great measures to ensure that protected health information is never inadvertently released, and we are undertaking additional steps to prevent breaches such as this in the future,” said Daniel J. Nigrin, MD, senior vice president for information services and CIO in the statement. “We deeply regret and apologize for any concern or inconvenience this situation may cause our patients and families.”