Opinion
Treat records theft as the crime that it is -- not as cause for lawsuit
LETTER — Posted April 3, 2006
Regarding "Oregon computer theft spurs patient privacy lawsuit" (Article, March 6): The Oregon lawsuit by patients whose medical information was contained in a laptop that was stolen from a hospital employee is absurd. The laptop was stolen from a locked car.
Should Providence Health System have hired guards to watch every employee's car? If armed thieves walked into a hospital health information department and stole patient charts, should the patients sue for violating HIPAA? If my bank is robbed, should I sue the bank for improperly guarding my money from thieves? If my child tells me that a classmate copied an answer from her during a test, should I sue the other parent for theft of intellectual property?
At some point, the line has to be drawn when a crime is involved, or once again the only winners will be the lawyers.
Ronald L Hirsch, MD, Elgin, Ill.
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2006/04/03/edlt0403.htm.