Brigham and Women's Hospital Data Breach (2014)

The medical information of some 1,000 Brigham and Women's patients was on a laptop computer stolen from a physician two months ago, the hospital announced this morning. Brigham and Women's has sent letters to the affected patients, but stressed in a statement the data did not include Social Security, insurance "or other financial account information." Patient names, medical record numbers, ages, medications and diagnosises and treatments may have been compromised, however. The armed robbery occurred Sept. 24 at a location other than Brigham and Women's, and the alleged victim was forced to disclose his cell phone and laptop's pass codes, according to the hospital. The theft was reported immediately to Boston police. Neither the computer nor the phone have been recovered. "We apologize for any inconvenience and deeply regret any concern this situation may cause our patients, said Dr. Cedric Priebe, chief information officer at BWH. We have no knowledge that the information on these devices has been accessed, and we are reviewing related policies and procedures in an effort to determine if there are steps that may decrease the likelihood of this type of incident in the future." The affected patients were treated in the neurology and neurosurgery programs between October 2011 and September of this year.