A patient’s ransomware story
“ There’s a risk that any discussion about cybersecurity becomes a technical one, and when that happens, we tend to delegate it as an issue to technical people. In truth, healthcare attacks impact real people and speaking to them—victims and frontline responders, support staff, and loved ones—is the only way we can really begin to understand what’s at stake.”
An emergency room doctor with 40 years of experience, and on staff at ten hospitals, recalled a ransomware attack that had affected a US hospital, where she was a patient being treated for a severe case of hyperparathyroidism:
“I was rescheduled for a corrective surgery in April, after a previous unsuccessful attempt in November when the doctor took out the wrong gland. The procedure was critical to my health because the hyperparathyroidism was causing congestive heart failure.
The hospital needed several weeks to get back to me. Communication was limited and updates scarce. When they finally called, I was told about a ransomware attack. I had no idea. Still, no one could tell me how long the restoration would take. All surgeries were canceled for at least a week. This pushed my surgery to the end of June.
During this delay, I grew progressively sicker. The congestive heart failure worsened. It was planned as same-day surgery, but I was too sick by that time. I had spent three days in the hospital and had already used up my sick leave between the first failed surgery and the last-minute rescheduling. By then, when I finally had the rescheduled surgery, I had run out of sick leave. I turned 65. My family had flown in to celebrate with me and put together a surprise birthday celebration. I had to miss it as I was too ill to attend.
The endocrine surgeon treating me was a fantastic professional. She later recalled this incident as the most traumatic event of her career. This is also because the hospital did not know how long the restoration would take. Medical information was not properly backed up, and this prolonged the recovery.”
Meredith, United States