Longmont – Medical records that contained patients’ private information have now been secured after 9NEWS warned a Longmont dentist that the non-shredded documents were sitting in a publically accessible trash can.
The documents were found Sunday morning by a man looking for scrap metal in downtown Longmont. Stan Harvey called 9NEWS after finding the documents because he was concerned someone could use them to steal the patients’ information.
“I wouldn’t want my information out like that,” Harvey said. “I wouldn’t want somebody to have my social security number.”
Dr. Andrew Ranucci says he is required to keep patients’ records for seven years and then shred the documents. He said the documents were likely sitting in a box waiting to be shredded and that a new office assistant might have accidentally thrown them out with the trash.
“This is a one time incident,” Dr. Ranucci told 9NEWS. “It’s an honest mistake. It has not happened in the past, and it will not happen in the future.”
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