Calif. Man Arrested for Mass Medical Data Theft

Courtesy of Alhambra Police Department. Alhambra Police have identified Christopher Lee Brown as a suspect in the theft of AHMC hospital laptops containing data on approximately 729,000 patients.

Alhambra, Calif., police arrested Christopher Lee Brown, also known as Allen Marcous, for allegedly stealing two hospital administration laptops which contained 729,000 patient files from AHMC hospitals.  According to the police, the laptops have not been recovered, but they are currently questioning Brown.

Brown was taken into custody for the theft that was committed on Oct. 12, 2013.  According to Sgt. Jerry Johnson of the Alhambra Police Department, Brown was allegedly seen on a security video in a sixth-floor office of AHMC Healthcare Inc. in Alhambra.  Police say Brown had a girlfriend who worked at the offices and that many employees knew him.  The police and the hospital admitted that the laptops were taken from a video-monitored office patrolled by security.

The missing laptops contain data from patients treated at several San Gabriel Valley-based AHMC hospitals, including:

• Garfield Medical Center in Monterey Park
• Monterey Park Hospital
• Greater El Monte Community Hospital in South El Monte
• Whittier Hospital Medical Center
• San Gabriel Valley Medical Center
• Anaheim Regional Medical Center

The AHMC hospitals are receiving some public scrutiny as well because the personal information of concerned patients are in danger of exposure.  Under federal law, hospitals are required to report potential medical data breaches. This breach of 729,000 files currently ranks as the 11th largest in the nation, according to data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Hospital spokesman Gary Hoplins assured the public that the laptops are password protected, and had notified the police as soon as the theft was discovered.

According to the hospitals, the laptops contained medical data that included: patients’ names, Medicare and insurance identification numbers, diagnosis and procedure codes and payment records.  A small number of the files contained patients’ social security numbers. These patients may have a legal claim for compensation under California law that protects consumers from identity theft.

Medical Data Theft Incidences on the Rise

The number of reported healthcare data breaches is currently on the rise in the United States, with California having the most incidents. In 2012 alone, California hospitals and medical centers reported the most data breaches in the country; either through the theft of employee computers, unauthorized access, or hacking.

As a result, California ranked number two in the country for the number of lost or stolen medical records with 3,652,373 records affected.  As indicated above in the incident, these records may contain highly personal information such as: social security numbers, addresses, credit card numbers and more; putting the victims at risk for identity theft.

California state law requires businesses to immediately notify residents whose sensitive personal information may have been compromised.  This allows the victims to take defensive measures to protect themselves against possible identity theft.  However, Javelin Strategy & Research’s 2013 Identity Fraud Report revealed that despite this and other efforts, it is shown that one out of four data breach victims may evolve into cases of identity theft.

The California hospitals in this case, may have committed medical privacy violations by failing protect patients’ medical records from being inappropriately accessed.  The hospitals had neither encrypted the medical records, nor were the laptops that heavily guarded.

Consumers Take Legal Action

If you are a California resident and received a data breach notification letter from one of the following companies, or a California medical center not listed here, you may be eligible to participate in a free class action lawsuit against the company. You may start by visiting the Calif. Hospital Data Breach, Medical Privacy Violations Class Action Lawsuit Investigation. If successful, the medical privacy lawsuit may help you obtain compensation for out-of-pocket costs related to the California hospital privacy violations, including costs associated with identity theft protection and other damages.  These hospitals include:

• AHMC Hospitals
• AHMC Healthcare Inc.
• Garfield Medical Center
• Monterey Park Hospital
• Greater El Monte Community Hospital
• Whittier Hospital Medical Center
• San Gabriel Valley Medical Center
• Anaheim Regional Medical Center
• Cottage Health System
• Goleta Valley Cottage Hospital
• Santa Ynez Valley Cottage Hospital
• Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital
• Kaiser Hospital
• Anaheim Medical Center
• Long Beach Memorial Medical Center
• Northern Inyo Hospital (NIH)
• Santa Clara Valley Medical Center
• UCLA Hospital
• University of California San Francisco (UCSF) Medical Center