Sandra E. García reports:
As some members of the ARC XVI Fort Washington Heights Senior Center made their way to the center this past Thurs., Feb. 9th for breakfast, they walked past a patch of sidewalk covered in white.
But the previous night’s snowfall was not the culprit.
Instead, confidential patient records from the Doshi Diagnostic Center on 175th Street and Broadway were. Trash bags just outside the center had opened, and hundreds of documents with sensitive information printed on them had been scattered all along the sidewalk.
Diana Hernandez, chief of transportation at the ARC Senior Center was alarmed when her seniors handed her papers that contained patients’ personal information like Social Security numbers, copies of benefit cards, and unemployment compensation records, among others.
“The documents were on the street on Broadway,” explained Hernandez, “complete medical records for individual patients from 2006 for a Dr. Newman and Dr. Krashner’s offices, offices [that] are located in the Doshi Diagnostics office.”
Read more on Manhattan Times.
In Indiana or Texas, the AG’s office would likely investigate and perhaps charge the entities for such improper disposal. It would be nice to see NYS become more active in investigation and even charging parties if they knowingly or willfully just discard sensitive data.