UCLA Medical Center, a large hospital in Los Angeles, wrongly disclosed the personal and private information of 16,288 patients when it allowed a computer containing highly sensitive medical and personal records to be stolen. The wrongly disclosed private records include patients’ names, addresses, and medical records. Although the stolen information was encrypted, a piece of paper containing the password, which was kept right next to the computer, was also stolen. As a result, the protections offered by encryption were useless and the confidential medical information belonging to over 16,000 people is now in unknown hands.
UCLA”s data disclosure is especially outrageous because UCLA has been involved in other data breaches in the past. These breaches have resulted in California drafting some of our nation’s strongest medical privacy protections. Indeed, hospitals and other entities that are entrusted with people’s private information have an important legal obligation to maintain patient privacy. Failure to meet this obligation is deeply harmful to patients ;fortunately, people who are victimized by wrongful disclosures can be protected by the court system. For example, when TRICARE failed to fulfill its responsibilities, our attorneys brought a high-profile class action lawsuit on behalf of 4.9 million people who were victimized by wrongful disclosure.
If you have received medical treatment at UCLA medical center and you believe that your records might have been among those disclosed, please contact us immediately to discuss your legal rights.