Dba Got Sued

It has been claimed that a DataBaseAdministrator? was successfully sued for malpractice relating to his administration of a corporate database.

From DbasGoneBad: Also, I must point out, I cannot find the reference for it, but IIRC DBAs are the only IT workers successfully sued for errors and omissions. In the case I heard of the DBA had directly changed data in the database and caused financial damages. This is another reason DBAs are conservative. AFAIK, no 'Software Engineer' has ever been sued for their work. And in fact one marker of a profession is that you, as a professional, are personally responsible for your mistakes.

But isn't that "changing data"? If anybody changes key data for bad reasons they can get sued. That is not really for being a DBA it sounds.

The basic scenario was that the DBA short cut the QA process. That was negligent. The DBA accepted a request from a single user to change data without following procedure. Damages resulted and the DBA was sued and lost. It really had a chilling effect on our DBAs when it was announced. They suddenly became much more paranoid. And for a paranoid profession, that says a lot.

But the question remains: isn't *anybody* who has access to change the information at risk of the same thing if they change it? Data entry people, programmers, etc. could face the same temptation. It does not seem specific to DBA-ness here.

What the hell does "professionally responsible for your mistakes" have to do with getting sued? --PhlIp and his pet lawyers...

A couple of questions come to mind:

Was the DBA in question a certified professional by any reputable professional society or licensing board? (No, vendor certification programs don't count).
- Is there such a thing?
Was the DBA a full-time employee of the company in question, or a hired contractor?
Where did this occur?
Any other aggravating circumstances?
What company, and when?
Would a developer or operator who made a similar shortcut be treated the same way?

Does anyone have a reference for this?

I'm calling BULLSHIT.