Med Mal News

In July, the office of Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal announced that the State had settled with medical insurer Health Net over a security breach that exposed 1.5 million patients' health records to possible misuse. Approximately 500,000 of the victims were Connecticut residents. The breach occurred when a computer disk containing private health and financial information was lost, possibly due to theft. To make matters worse, Health Net delayed informing the affected patients or law enforcement authorities for six months, a further violation of the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA). The settlement includes a $250,000 payment to the State, as well as two years of credit monitoring and $1 million in identity theft insurance for the affected parties. In a statement accompanying the settlement announcement, Blumenthal said, “These missing medical records included some of the most personal, intimate patient information ' exposing individuals to grave embarrassment and emotional distress, as well as financial harm and identity theft. This settlement provides powerful systemic protections for consumers and payment to taxpayers.”