Baltimore County police investigating theft of 5,000 x-rays
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Officials from St. Joseph said they don’t believe patient information was the target, though accompanying records did contain some medical information, according to the AP. No contact information, Social Security numbers or financial information was compromised.
No suspect has been identified by Baltimore County police.
The Baltimore Sun reported that the hospital uses an outside company to destroy outdated x-ray films and the stolen films were scheduled for destruction as part of St. Joseph’s record management program.
Officials believe the theft occurred on Sept. 11 when someone posed as a worker for the film disposal company to gain access to the film, according to the Baltimore Sun. The theft was discovered five days later.
The theft comes on the heels of another incident involving the loss of a portable hard drive containing medical records for patients at St. Joseph. An employee of Baxter, Sidle, Conn & Jones law firm lost the drive in August while the firm was working on a malpractice case involving a suit against cardiologist Mark G. Midei, MD, according to the Baltimore Sun.
Evan Godt, Writer
Evan joined TriMed in 2011, writing primarily for Health Imaging. Prior to diving into medical journalism, Evan worked for the Nine Network of Public Media in St. Louis. He also has worked in public relations and education. Evan studied journalism at the University of Missouri, with an emphasis on broadcast media.