IVF couples’ intimate chats at top hospital end up online
A TOP private hospital has been fined £200,000 after publishing intimate conversations of IVF couples online.
The Lister Hospital in Chelsea, London was accused of ‘betraying the trust’ of its patients by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).
The mistake occurred when staff at the fertility clinic sent recordings of appointments between couples and doctors to a company in India to be transcribed. But the firm returned the transcripts on an internet server which wasn’t secure, meaning the information could be seen by anyone.
The error was only uncovered when an IVF patient at the hospital happened to spot the transcripts while looking something up online.
The Lister is run by HCA International and is one of the most renowned and expensive private hospitals in the country. A course or ‘cycle’ of IVF costs £ 3,500 although patients pay extra for appointments, scans, storage fees and follow-up checks.
The ICO accused HCA International and the Lister Hospital’s Fertility Clinic of breaking the law, by breaching the Data Protection Act 1998.
Steve Eckersley, Head of Enforcement at the ICO said: ‘The reputation of the medical profession is built on trust. HCA International has not only broken the law, it has betrayed the trust of its patients. These people were discussing intimate details about fertility and treatment and certainly didn’t expect this information to be placed online. ‘The hospital had a duty to keep the information secure.
‘Once information is online it can be accessed by anyone and could have caused even more distress to people who were already going through a difficult time. What makes this case even worse is that we know the company is aware of its data protection obligations and already has appropriate safeguards in place in other areas of its business. The situation could have been avoided entirely if HCA International had taken the time to check up on the methods used by the contract company.’
A spokesman for the Lister Fertility Clinic said the mistakes had only involved seven patients. It said: ‘We take the protection of our patients’ confidential and sensitive information extremely seriously.
‘However, on this occasion we fell short of the both the standards of the ICO and the high standards we set for ourselves.
‘We have apologised to the patients affected for the distress this may have caused and we no longer work with the company involved. The Lister Fertility Clinic has put in place more rigorous checks and measures to ensure the safety of our patients’ information.’
This error involved a private company but NHS hospitals also have an appalling track record for data breaches.
On Monday the NHS admitted mislaying the test results and letters of 703,000 patients, which had been left in a warehouse.
That mistake had occurred after another private firm neglected to deliver the documents to doctors.
‘Could have been avoided entirely’