Ransomware attacks are well recognized as causing an increasing number of disruptions to health care services as well as steep economic losses, but their impact on patient health outcomes has been less easy to determine.

A suspected ransomware death.

A report published recently in the Wall Street Journal details the potentially fatal effects of cyberattacks. “A Hospital Hit by Hackers, a Baby in Distress: The Case of the First Alleged Ransomware Death” (subscription may be required) describes a lawsuit contending that a child born at an Alabama hospital in 2019 during an eight-day cyberattack subsequently died because the building’s disabled computer systems prevented staff from properly caring for the infant.

A Becker Hospital Review post last week further highlights the reported links between cyberattacks and patient outcomes. It describes the above lawsuit, as well as findings from studies by the Ponemon Institute and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, that suggest a link between such attacks and increased mortality rates.

Caption: Medical devices and applications connect to the Internet of Medical Things in a variety of ways, including via USB connectors, Wi-Fi, sensors, LTE wireless data connection, and other wireless technology such as Bluetooth. Reprinted with permission from Al-Turjman F, et al. Intelligence in the Internet […]