The Dyke Is Leaking
If you missed this. I guess a rogue employee did this in California.
The Internal Revenue Service is now facing a class action lawsuit
over allegations that it improperly accessed and stole the health
records of some 10 million Americans, including medical records of all
California state judges.
According to a report by Courthousenews.com, an unnamed HIPAA-covered entity in California is suing the IRS, alleging that some 60 million medical records from 10 million patients were stolen by 15 IRS agents. The personal health information seized on March 11, 2011, included psychological counseling, gynecological counseling, sexual/drug treatment and other medical treatment data.
"This is an action involving the corruption and abuse of power by
several Internal Revenue Service agents," the complaint reads. "No
search warrant authorized the seizure of these records; no subpoena
authorized the seizure of these records; none of the 10,000,000
Americans were under any kind of known criminal or civil investigation
and their medical records had no relevance whatsoever to the IRS search.
IT personnel at the scene, a HIPPA facility warning on the building and
the IT portion of the searched premises, and the company executives
each warned the IRS agents of these privileged records," it continued.
According to the case, the IRS agents had a search warrant for financial data pertaining to a former employee of the John Doe company, however, "it did not authorize any seizure of any healthcare or medical record of any persons, least of all third parties completely unrelated to the matter," the complaint read. The class action lawsuit against the IRS seeks $25,000 in compensatory damages "per violation per individual" in addition to punitive damages for constitutional violations. Thus, compensatory damages could start at a minimum of $250 billion.
IRS faces class action lawsuit over theft of 60 million medical records
California HIPAA-covered entity sues big time
SAN DIEGO | March 15, 2013According to a report by Courthousenews.com, an unnamed HIPAA-covered entity in California is suing the IRS, alleging that some 60 million medical records from 10 million patients were stolen by 15 IRS agents. The personal health information seized on March 11, 2011, included psychological counseling, gynecological counseling, sexual/drug treatment and other medical treatment data.
"This is an action involving the corruption and abuse of power by
several Internal Revenue Service agents," the complaint reads. "No
search warrant authorized the seizure of these records; no subpoena
authorized the seizure of these records; none of the 10,000,000
Americans were under any kind of known criminal or civil investigation
and their medical records had no relevance whatsoever to the IRS search.
IT personnel at the scene, a HIPPA facility warning on the building and
the IT portion of the searched premises, and the company executives
each warned the IRS agents of these privileged records," it continued.
According to the case, the IRS agents had a search warrant for financial data pertaining to a former employee of the John Doe company, however, "it did not authorize any seizure of any healthcare or medical record of any persons, least of all third parties completely unrelated to the matter," the complaint read. The class action lawsuit against the IRS seeks $25,000 in compensatory damages "per violation per individual" in addition to punitive damages for constitutional violations. Thus, compensatory damages could start at a minimum of $250 billion.
posted by Gene | 11:03 AM
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