KUSA – A half-dozen patient records from Denver Health were discovered near the side of a road in Arapahoe County this weekend.
Two women said they they were running along E. Hampden Ave. near Gun Club Rd. Saturday when they saw the pieces of paper among bags of trash near the side of the road.
They found at least six records that included patient names, birth dates and phone numbers, along with notes about pathology and surgery procedures. They were dated within the past week.
One of the women, who asked not to be named, contacted 9NEWS about the discovery.
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9NEWS made contact with several of the patients, who confirmed they had recently undergone procedures at Denver Health in recent days.
A few bags of medical waste with biohazard emblems on the sides were still lying along the road Sunday. After 9NEWS informed Denver Health and the Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office about the discovery, they confirmed all the bags were removed Sunday night.
Denver Health released the following statement:
“Safeguarding and protecting the confidentiality of all patients of Denver Health is extremely important to us and we take matters involving the confidentiality of patients very seriously.
Most medical records kept at Denver Health are electronic and we have several safeguards that employees must use when accessing medical records. Denver Health takes great care with patient information and medical waste.
While it isn’t clear how this occurred as of right now, we are taking action to investigate the matter and will take swift action to help ensure that this does not happen in the future.
We are grateful for the individuals who took time to report this matter. We would like to extend our sincere apologies to anyone who has been affected by this unfortunate circumstance.”
The women who found the records said they were shocked by the discovery.
“I think as we started pulling the pieces together, it was just probably feeling a little disturbed that these people’s very private medical information was just out blowing in the wind,” one of them said.
A hospital spokesperson told 9NEWS paper records are stored in secure bins, and the hospital contracts with an outside agency to remove the bins and do the shredding. Denver Health also uses outside vendors to expose of medical waste.
The spokesperson said it could take a few days to fully determine why the trash and records ended up along the side of the road.
Date: May 18, 2014