An update on the Mills-Peninsula Medical Center breach reported in August. The incident was subsequently reported to HHS by Mills-Peninsula Health Services as affecting 1,438 patients. Today, Michelle Durand reports:
A former hospital mailroom employee who took home and kept approximately 1,500 patient records will appear in court Monday on charges of embezzlement and forgery.
The charges against Katherine Asimos, 49, are misdemeanors because it is impossible to put a monetary value on the records, said District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe.
Asimos allegedly took the documents between November 2009 and September 2010 while working for Mills-Peninsula Health Services. The Burlingame hospital learned of the breach June 17 when Asimos’ brother discovered the documents while helping her move and returned them to the hospital. Asimos has since been terminated.
Her reason for removing the records is unclear but she told authorities she was overwhelmed with sorting them at work and brought them home with plans to shred them later, Wagstaffe said.
Read more on The Daily Journal. I found the embezzlement charges a bit confusing as I usually think of embezzlement of funds, but I gather that the prosecutors may have been scratching their heads over how to charge her.