Patients Notified after Computer Inadvertently Thrown Out

Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital in Albany, Ga., has notified 6,777 patients after an unencrypted desktop computer went missing from a clinic.


Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital in Albany, Ga., has notified 6,777 patients after an unencrypted desktop computer went missing from a clinic.

A notice to patients did not give details, but the Albany Herald newspaper quotes a police report stating a clinic employee boxed up a computer and left it in the hallway to move the next morning into a spare office. A janitor thought the box was trash and took it to the dumpster. Two employees were terminated, but a spokesperson would not confirm their positions.

Protected information on the computer included name, address, date of birth, dates of service, physician name and diagnosis. Thirteen patients also had their Social Security numbers on the computer and were offered a year of credit monitoring services from Experian.

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