Amanda Antell  |  January 21, 2014

Category: Consumer News

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UCLA Hospital data breachThe UCLA Health System released a statement in November 2011, warning the public that thousands of patients of their hospital had their personal medical information stolen, and that they were possible identity theft victims.  Patients who were affected by the 2011 data breach may be eligible to take legal action now and in the future for having their personal information compromised.

Approximately 16,288 patients had their information stolen when the home of one of UCLA’s physicians was burglarized. The physician was employed at UCLA Faculty Practice Group, whose doctors see patients at the outpatient clinics and the four inpatient hospitals:

  • Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center
  • Santa Monica UCLA Medical Center
  • Orthopedic Hospital
  • Mattel Children’s Hospital
  • Resnick Neuropsychiatric Hospital

 

Each patient file stolen included the first and last names of the patients, as well as birth dates, medical record numbers, addresses and personal medical information. Luckily, these files did not include Social Security numbers, credit card or insurance details. The stolen patient information was reportedly from 2007 through 2011.

Officials stated that the stolen data was contained in the physician’s external hard drive, but while the drive was encrypted, a piece of paper containing the password to these files was also missing. The physician notified UCLA the day after he discovered the device missing, and officials began identifying affected patients.

This theft is not the first in UCLA’s history. Between 2005 and 2009, hospital officials were being caught and fired for reviewing unauthorized patient information, mostly from celebrity patients who requested enhanced privacy. These celebrities reportedly included Britney Spears and Farah Fawcett. These violations prompted the state of California to enhance its patient privacy laws. State regulators later fined Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center for allegedly breaching the records of Michael Jackson.

UCLA released a statement to the public, assuring them that the patients’ privacy is their primary concern, and that they are cooperating with investigators. Additionally, they contracted a data security firm to work with the affected patients.

While UCLA cooperated in this recovery process, any of the hospitals mentioned above could face possible negligence lawsuits for violating patients’ privacy. Under state law, medical institutions and businesses are required to notify any affected party, especially customers or patients, if there was a security breach involving personal medical information. Any delay or discrepancy in this matter could cause the hospital or business to face fines.

Overview of Medical Data Breach Complications

UCLA’s data breach is just one of many major hospital data breaches that have occurred in California over the past several years. California has taken strict offensive measures to give residents a fighting chance against this threat. As mentioned earlier, California state law requires businesses and hospitals to immediately notify residents whose personal information may have been compromised. With this notification, the affected residents are able to take measures to protect themselves against possible identity theft.

While this policy does help, it is not a complete solution to the growing problem of identity theft. Many companies fail to follow this regulation, causing many affected residents to become victims of identity theft.

File a Medical Data Breach Lawsuit

If you are a California resident and received a data breach notification letter from one of the following companies, or a California medical center not listed here, you may be eligible to participate in a free class action lawsuit against the company. If successful, the medical privacy lawsuit may help you obtain compensation for out-of-pocket costs related to the California hospital privacy violations, including costs associated with identity theft protection and other damages.  These hospitals include:

  • AHMC Hospital
  • AHMC Healthcare Inc.
  • Garfield Medical Center
  • Monterey Park Hospital
  • Greater El Monte Community Hospital
  • Whittier Hospital Medical Center
  • San Gabriel Valley Medical Center
  • Anaheim Regional Medical Center
  • Cottage Health System
  • Goleta Valley Cottage Hospital
  • Santa Ynez Valley Cottage Hospital
  • Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital
  • Kaiser Hospital
  • Anaheim Medical Center
  • Long Beach Memorial Medical Center
  • Northern Inyo Hospital (NIH)
  • Santa Clara Valley Medical Center
  • UCLA Hospital
  • University of California San Francisco (UCSF) Medical Center

 

For more information about your legal options, visit the Calif. Hospital Data Breach, Medical Privacy Violations Class Action Lawsuit Investigation.

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2 thoughts onUCLA Hospital Announces Major Data Breach

  1. scott t says:

    2013? The facts in this article are strikingly similar to theft that occurred on September 6, 2011, not September 6, 2013. According to several sources, including those I have noted in the links below, the exact same number of patient records, 16,288, were compromised when an external hard drive was stolen from a UCLA Health Systems physician’s home in September 2011. Also strikingly similar is that a piece of paper that had the password to decode the data also went missing during the 2011 burglary.

    http://www.californiahealthline.org/articles/2013/10/17/court-dismisses-lawsuit-over-ucla-health-system-data-breach

    http://dailybruin.com/2012/01/10/classaction_lawsuit_against_ucla_health_system_for_data_breach_fails_to_move_foward/

    http://articles.latimes.com/2011/nov/05/local/la-me-ucla-medical-data-20111105

    Is it possible you have your dates wrong?

    1. Sarah Pierce says:

      EDITOR’S NOTE: Thank you for your comment. The dates reported in the original article were inaccurate. The article has been updated to reflect the correct time period for the UCLA data breach.

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