WOODSTOCK, Ga.,None — Woodstock police have opened an investigation into the discovery of hundreds of confidential medical records discarded in a dumpster outside the former office of a Cherokee County Ob-Gyn.
Acting on a tip, Channel 2 Action News reporter Tom Regan went to the medical park off Highway 92 in Woodstock. In the dumpster, Regan discovered garbage bags filled with the personal medical records of patients. The records included names, addresses, check numbers, as well as reports on doctor's visits by expectant mothers and sonograms.
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Trina Bonner, who works at another office at the medical park, said she was disturbed by what she saw.
"That is wrong. I don't want my Social Security number out there. I don't want my past medical history out there for anyone to see. It shouldn't be put in a dumpster. It should be shredded so no one can get the information," Bonner said.
When Regan brought his discovery to the attention of an office park manager, she said the records should not have been thrown away. She called police who arrived and placed crime scene tape around the dumpster.
"The doctor is supposed to be responsible for a certain means of shredding. They can't just be thrown into a dumpster as they were in this case." said Sgt. Paul Brown of the Woodstock Police Department.
Channel 2 was the only camera at the scene as police hauled the dumpster away on a flatbed truck.
Brown said the dumpster was taken to a impound lot where the medical records will be separated from the trash. Police said the doctor whose office the records came from could face charges of violating patient confidentiality laws.
Channel 2 left messages for Dr. Kenneth Healey, but did not receive a return call prior to the posting of this story.
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