Medical Records Data Breach
From GP to hospital records, most if not all healthcare providers have now made the move to storing your information in an electronic format. Whilst this has its advantages in terms of how your care is delivered, it comes with its disadvantages in terms of the safety of your data.
If robust systems are not in place within the healthcare organisations handling your personal and sensitive healthcare information, medical data breaches can occur. At Patron Law, our dedicated team of data breach solicitors have years of experience handling medical data breach claims against healthcare providers.
Types of medical data breach
Medical data breaches can occur within a variety of organisations. The medical data breach can be because of human error, hackers or even someone deliberately accessing your records for illegitimate reasons. No matter what kind of breach has occurred, our team can help you to make a claim.
It isn’t just NHS organisations who could cause a medical data breach; private healthcare providers are also subject to the same rules, meaning that if your medical records have been breached within a private healthcare setting, you could also be entitled to compensation.
We understand that data breaches can affect people differently, and a claim could include compensation for the following:
Financial losses
a) A medical data breach could lead to someone having enough personal information about you to access your existing accounts with banks or other financial organisations such as investment accounts and forex accounts.
b) Your details may also be used to create new accounts with credit organisations, thereby allowing the hacker to run up debts in your name.
Distress – some of your most personal and sensitive information and data is shared with GPs, doctors and healthcare professionals in medical and healthcare settings. If this information were to get into the wrong hands, the anguish which this could cause can be immeasurable.
Breaches involving the most sensitive of data could have extreme effects for people some time after the breach.
How can data be breached?
Data can be breached in many ways. One of the most common reasons for a breach is human error. People handle your data daily, and they could inadvertently send your information to the wrong recipient. Furthermore, humans can act maliciously and obtain and use data for the incorrect reasons. An example of this could include an employee of a medical organisation obtaining patient data and selling it to a third party.
Other examples of data breaches could include:
- Hacking a laptop or PC
- Lost medical records
- Sending a letter or email which includes personal data to the wrong address/recipient
Our data breach solicitors can assist you in making a claim against the following:
- Hospital data breaches
- GP surgery data breaches
- Dentist data breaches
- Pharmacy data breaches
- Optician data breaches
- NHS data breaches
If you believe that your medical records have been breached, we are on hand to take the necessary steps to resolve matters and pursue the compensation you deserve.
How to Get in Contact
alexander.zivancevic@patronlaw.co.uk for more information.
