One of the hospitals involved was St. Jude Medical Center in Fullerton. (KTLA-TV) |
FULLERTON, Calif. (KTLA) -- More than 21,000 hospital patients at two Orange County hospitals may have had their medical records compromised.
The hospitals involved are St. Jude Medical Center in Fullerton and Mission Hospital in Laguna Beach.
The confidential records of up to 21,300 patients were essentially up for grabs on public search engines.
An additional 9,000 patients in Northern California were also affected.
Anyone could search and find what were supposed to be private medical records, including names, lab results, medications, allergies, body mass index and demographic information.
Apparently, someone did not put the right security settings on hospital computers.
This went on for an entire year, until an attorney for one patient raised a red flag in the past week.
The hospitals say there are no reports of anyone actually accessing the confidential records.
"I think that the most important thing is that our response was rapid," Dr. Clyde West, of St. Joseph Health System said in a statement.
"We have secured the sites and this information is not available any longer."
Hospital officials also say patients' social security numbers and financial information were not accessible.
The hospitals involved are St. Jude Medical Center in Fullerton and Mission Hospital in Laguna Beach.
The confidential records of up to 21,300 patients were essentially up for grabs on public search engines.
An additional 9,000 patients in Northern California were also affected.
Anyone could search and find what were supposed to be private medical records, including names, lab results, medications, allergies, body mass index and demographic information.
Apparently, someone did not put the right security settings on hospital computers.
This went on for an entire year, until an attorney for one patient raised a red flag in the past week.
The hospitals say there are no reports of anyone actually accessing the confidential records.
"I think that the most important thing is that our response was rapid," Dr. Clyde West, of St. Joseph Health System said in a statement.
"We have secured the sites and this information is not available any longer."
Hospital officials also say patients' social security numbers and financial information were not accessible.
