This is on appeal but still hard to understand.
Here’s the unbelievable part: the judge threw the case out, ruling that the patient list was not covered under the Michigan Uniform Trade Secrets Act. The judge was in effect saying that a doctor’s patient list is not protected information. (In a similar Pennsylvania case, the patient list was found to be a trade secret, but that’s of little help to Dr. Michigan.) So Dr. Michigan now finds himself working two jobs just to pay his legal bills.
Source: Hygienist Steals Patients, Leaves Dentist with Huge Legal Bills
The high tech connection is this: The fact the records were taken is a slam dunk reportable HIPAA data breach. Read the whole thing.