Laptop stolen from mammo suite with data on 5,400 patients

By Editorial Staff
HealthImaging.com
May 2, 2010

The Medical Center in Bowling Green, Ky., is currently notifying 5,418 patients of a breach of personal protected health information, resulting from the theft of computer equipment from its mammography suite containing information on patients who underwent bone density testing between 1997 and 2009.

At this point the provider said it had no reason to believe the device was stolen for the information on it or that any personal information has been released or used.

On April 1, the Medical Center said it discovered that the laptop had been stolen from its mammography suite. Upon learning of the theft, the facility launched an investigation of the incident, and the theft has been reported to the Bowling Green Police Department.

The facility has since discovered the data on the device included each patient's name, date of birth, address, medical record number and physician name. Some patients' records also included information, such as social security numbers, weight, height and menopause age. The data on the hard drive was not encrypted; however, the hard drive was maintained in a locked, non-public, private area, according to the hospital.

[...]