News and notes from Reston (tm).

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

On the YouTubes: Reston's Wackiest Medical Blunders and Privacy Violations

For once, Fox News' dumpster-diving found something other than poorly doctored Kenyan birth certificates! A dumpster diver found unshredded medical records from Family Health Center on Town Center Parkway in Reston, which is run by Dr. Eric Havens. The obligatory statement:
"Dr. Havens wishes to express his deep regret that medical records of his patients were inadvertently included in the disposal of other non-medical records. This isolated incident is outside of the usual office procedures and protocols for the destruction of patients’ records."
The funny part? Officials made Fox give the records back to the doctor's office, where they will be destroyed, or maybe put up on eBay or something.

(Tip of the hat to the Peasant from Less Sought After South Reston and his wife, Daniela Boone.)

5 comments:

  1. Broke in Charter Oak (BiCO)March 3, 2010 at 1:03 PM

    This is bizarre. Not that I'm making any excuses for this doctor, but what prompted FOX to go dumpster-diving out here in the Mauve Wonderland in the first place? Did someone at the office tip them off? (IF so, then I tip my hat to them).

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  2. We shall name the dumpster diver "lulu".

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  3. Peasant From Less Sought After South RestonMarch 3, 2010 at 1:45 PM

    BiCO:

    According to the story on the Fox 5 website (the embedded hyperlink in the post), a viewer on his monthly run to the dump found these boxes of medical records just sitting atop other trash in the recycling bins. That viewer contacted Fox 5.

    Among the personal information in those records: health histories, test results, insurance information, addresses, and bank account information.

    And since I was at that medical office in 2003, maybe my own information was in there as well.

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  4. What if Reston Citizens had line item veto? Would they veto higher dues at the expense of other high priority items that the RA cherishes? would they be willing to do with less. Maybe but RA would not!

    None of this was addressed last night at ARCH as candidates rehashed same old same old same old. It struck me that the candidates and RA live in offices where they produce jargon on a daily basis to justify the continued existence of more of the same as the mainstay of there work.

    One RA endorsed candidate got a nervous laugh when he suggested what if the RA had no where to go and were out on the curb? The existence of the RA is invested to the max in bloated organization which they want to get still bigger.

    The RA has probably already picked out their new office furniture for the New Headquarters. Milton Mathew can only justify his $180,000 salary as Executive Director if he directs something. He would be against more citizen volunteering to actually do the real work at RA at the expense of the paid organization.

    The typical ARCH member lives in a cluster where life is even more restricted then the RA. They are full of minute details and in several cases when allowed questions were alowed asked questions that in many cases could not even be understood and had to be re interpreted by the moderator in order to be addressed.

    I wanted to ask the candidates (but was prevented by the ARCH moderator who was horfield that I did not want to participate on the forum) who would be for going over the budget and reducing item after item so as to be able to reduce the dues if it could be proved that this is what citizens want.

    Even to ask the citizens is not on the agenda. Candidates spoke about communicate communicate communicate but with these guys it'll be the same old stuff. What are three things the RA dose well? What are ways to engage more citizens Robin asked.

    The fact is the average citizen hates the institutional jargon and dose not want go to these things and dose not want more of it. They could care less if the RA had no where to go as long as they did not have to listen to it.

    Perhaps such forums could serve as a kind of punishment with those who have conducted some kind of outrage and they would be condemned to sit and listen to it for long hours.

    The ability of the RA to control the election is being calmly accepted by Reston Citizens who either don't know about it or have grown used to it. They can always just ignore it unless the RA chooses to do something extremely outrageous which it probally will.

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  5. After looking at the video and the dumpster filled with paper only, it looks likt this was trash that was going to be destroyed anyway. Shredding would of been a good idea but lets not burn someone at the stake for a slight overlook. This is not a malpractice case and no one was hurt. BUT why would you jump in a dumpster to open up boxes. Something is fishy with this.

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