Boxes of medical records dumped in parking lot
05:36 PM PDT on Saturday, May 6, 2006
By JESSE JONES / KING 5 News / Seattle, WA
Records from Midway Dental were taken to a recycling bin by mistake.
KENT - If you were a patient of Midway Dental Center in Kent during the
early 1990s, your medical files may have been sitting near a recycling bin
in the parking lot of a Federal Way grocery store since Friday morning.
Bruce Berghegger called the police after making the discovery.
“I just couldn't believe what I was seeing,” he said. “People's files,
their health information, insurance numbers, cancelled checks, social
security numbers,” said Berghegger.
Police found out the records came from the Midway Dental Center. They
called Dr. Ashok Lalli and his wife Bala and told them their files were
found.
“I was shaking all the way because ultimately it was our records that we
are responsible for,” said Bala.
The Lallis say the records were mistakenly taken by a salvage company. They
were supposed to remove restaurant equipment from another building they
owned, but right by the equipment sat the files.
Lalli said the company was asked to take the restaurant equipment, not the
records.
Ricky Andrews, the man responsible for moving the equipment, says he hired
recyclers to handle the medical records. Some went to a recycling center,
the rest were dumped.
After about a half hour of dumpster diving, all the records were secured.
Now comes the tough task of making sure the records are complete.
According to state law, medical records are supposed to be retained for 10
years.
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