[Med-privacy] "AIDS Patient List Accidentally Emailed"

[Jeff Williams]

Peter and all,

  Well this doesn't give me a warm and fuzzy good feeling about
medical practitioners IT security.

  I feel really sorry for these 4500 or so folks because now some of
them
will likely loose their jobs, not be able to get meaningful employment
any
time soon, and on top of that may have their credit damaged and or
destroyed and also have to find a way to continue to afford treat their
HIV/AIDS!

  IMHO, Palm Beach County Health Department should be sued to
pick up the tab for these folks treatment and other damages
indefinitely...

Peter Marshall wrote:

>    http://cbsnewyork.com/topstories/topstories_story_051135632.html
>
> CBS 2 - New York News | cbsnewyork.com
>
> AIDS Patient List Accidentally Emailed
>         •       Email System Quickly Shut Down
>         •       Officials Believe Only About 10 People Opened Email
> Feb 20, 2005 1:52 pm US/Eastern
>
>   A confidential list of 4,500 Palm Beach County residents with AIDS
> and
> 2,000 who are HIV positive, including their addresses, was
> inadvertently emailed to more than 800 county workers, officials said.
>
> Computer technicians quickly shut down the county health department's
> email system and officials believe only about 10 people opened the
> email.
>
> Palm Beach County Health Department Director Dr. Jean Malecki has
> launched a "full and major investigation" into the incident, said
> spokesman Tim O'Connor. She also asked the state health department's
> inspector general to conduct an independent inquiry.
>
> Health department statistician John W. "Jack" Nolan sent an e-mail
> with
> his monthly statistics report on Thursday and inadvertently attached a
>
> file with the identities and addresses of AIDS patients and others who
>
> have tested HIV positive, Tim O'Connor said.
>
> Nolan realized his mistake within minutes and contacted the
> department's computer specialists who shut down the agency's e-mail
> system for about an hour, O'Connor said. He said they removed all
> copies of the e-mail from the system.
>
> "We don't know the number of people who opened the attachment, but it
> appears to our information technology staff that only 10 people opened
>
> the e-mail," O'Connor said. "We have already contacted most of them
> and
> will contact the others Monday."
>
> The Associated Press was unable to contact Nolan Saturday. Two phone
> listings for John Nolan in Palm Beach County weren't his.
>
> He has been reassigned to directly report to Malecki and assist in her
>
> investigation of the incident, O'Connor said.
>
> © 2005 The Associated Press.

Regards,
--
Jeffrey A. Williams
Spokesman for INEGroup LLA. - (Over 134k members/stakeholders strong!)
"Be precise in the use of words and expect precision from others" -
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"If the probability be called P; the injury, L; and the burden, B;
liability depends upon whether B is less than L multiplied by
P: i.e., whether B is less than PL."
United States v. Carroll Towing  (159 F.2d 169 [2d Cir. 1947]
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