NY hospital worker charged with massive file theft

A New York hospital employee was charged this weekend with stealing almost 50,000 patient files and selling some of them. The worker, patient admissions representative Dwight McPherson, was accused of stealing records from New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center starting in March 2006 on. The files stolen probably contained little or no medical information, but did include patient names, phone numbers and Social Security numbers--fertile ground for identity theft. McPherson previously had told investigators that a Brooklyn man offered him money in exchange for personal information on male patients born between 1950 and 1970. McPherson then sold the man 1,000 files for $750. He also admitted to selling another 1,000 patient documents to a different man. Hospital officials now are attempting to contact patients whose records were stolen.

To learn more about the file theft:
- read this New York Times piece

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