LAZARUS AT LARGE
A tough lesson on medical privacy
Pakistani transcriber threatens UCSF over back pay

David Lazarus Wednesday, October 22, 2003

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"Your patient records are out in the open... so you better track that person and make him pay my dues."

A woman in Pakistan doing cut-rate clerical work for UCSF Medical Center threatened to post patients' confidential files on the Internet unless she was paid more money.To show she was serious, the woman sent UCSF an e-mail earlier this month with actual patients' records attached.

The violation of medical privacy - apparently the first of its kind - highlights the danger of "offshoring" work that involves sensitive materials, an increasing trend among budget-conscious U.S. companies and institutions.

Is it back pay, or is she extorting a raise? It must be back pay. Extortion is cause for dismissal in most businesses. ;)

That's blackmailing. She has no care for others just looking out for number one. :(

I don't think that this is an inherent danger of 'off-shoring' work - this kind of illegal behaviour could happen anywhere. Extortion is illegal in Pakistan too - and the correct approach would have been to request that the authorities arrest the woman, rather than pay her off (which will encourage others to follow in her foot-steps).

I agree with Skunk, however: If you outsource just to get the job done by underpaid people this is an additional risk you face.
Unhappy employee = dangerous employee