Loma Linda hospital worker fired for taking home private records

The private medical records belonging to some 1,300 patients and/or their guarantors at Loma Linda University Medical Center in California were compromised when a former hospital employee violated policy and brought the data home.

How many victims? 1,336.

What type of personal information? Birth dates, addresses, medical record numbers, driver's license numbers and, in some cases, Social Security numbers.

What happened? It is unclear how the worker accessed the data or whether it was used for fraud (or intended to be), but the records have since been secured.

What was the response? The worker was fired, and the hospital is investigating. Victims will receive one year of credit monitoring services.

Source: www.pe.com, The Press-Enterprise, "Loma Linda: Security breach affects 1,300-plus patients," Dec. 28, 2011.