If Republicans can blame The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act for pulling the plug on Grandma, I am sure they will blame this on the law, too.
December 10, 2013, 6:42 a.m.
Healthcare giant Kaiser Permanente (click here) has notified about 49,000 patients of a privacy breach at its Anaheim Medical Center.
Kaiser said a computer flash drive was reported missing Sept. 25 inside the hospital's nuclear medicine department. The storage drive included patient names, date of birth, their medical record number and the type and amount of a specific medication.
The files didn't contain Social Security numbers or financial information, the company said.
"Kaiser Permanente takes the protection of our members' personal and health information seriously, and we apologize for this occurrence," said Kaiser spokeswoman Peggy Hinz.
The Oakland healthcare system said the missing data weren't encrypted or password-protected. The company advised patients to monitor their medical records "to ensure no fraudulent use of their medical information has taken place."
Ginger Buck, a retiree in San Bernardino County, said Kaiser notified her last week that she was among the 49,000 patients affected by the incident. She's been a Kaiser patient since 1997....
