Personal information, including Social Security numbers, has been stolen from the non-medical records of cancer patients of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston and fraudulently used.
Steven Singer, a spokesman for the institute, said yesterday that one confirmed case of fraud alleges that a temporary intake patient worker used a patient’s name and other data to set up a telephone account in a patient’s name and then ran up $2,500 in charges. The suspect is accused of having the personal data for 23 other patients in her pocketbook. “We suspect that other patients may be affected as well,” Steven said.
The institute is notifying all 12,000 patients that came to the Institute during the time the worker was employed from May through April. In its communication, the Institute is suggesting that all patients check their credit records with the three major credit bureaus to determine if anything is amiss, Singer said. If a problem is found the Institute has retained an attorney to clear a patient’s name at the Institute’s expense.
Medical and non-medical records are kept separately, Singer said.
The Institute was tipped off to the problem on July 28 and officials immediately contacted the Boston Police who assigned the case to the fraud unit, Singer said.
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