Scripps Health in San Diego has sent a local woman other patients' medical records on three separate occasions, even though she has reported the issue, according to ABC 10 News.
The woman, Danielle Sullivan, is concerned that this is a widespread problem, and worries that it could lead some medical records to fall into the wrong hands.
Ms. Sullivan said on two occasions, San Diego-based Scripps Mercy Hospital sent her someone else's medical records after she'd requested to have her own records mailed to her. The third instance involved San Diego-based Scripps Clinic Mission Valley.
"How often is this going to happen? How many people are walking around in this town with other people that know their medical background or personal things about them?" Ms. Sullivan told ABC 10 News.
Ms. Sullivan has complained to both Scripps Health and to the Department of Health and Human Services. Both organizations would not comment on specifics of the incident to ABC 10 News, citing privacy laws. However, Scripps provided the following statement to the station:
"Due to patient privacy laws, we cannot address this specific complaint. At Scripps, we take our patients' privacy seriously. If we are notified of a possible inappropriate disclosure of patient information, we attempt to retrieve any misdirected documents and conduct an investigation. If we confirm that such a disclosure has taken place, we notify the affected patient and report the incident to the responsible governmental agencies."