SALT LAKE CITY, Utah. In January, 2008 Inspiration Hospice posted confidential information for 82 of its patients, and contact information for 185 caretakers on its website, inspirationhospice.com. The information was inadvertently put online in an Excel file which contained names, partial social security numbers, dates of birth, insurance numbers, medical diagnoses, addresses, phone numbers, prescriptions, and allergies, among other confidential information. The file also documented intensely personal wishes about when a patient wished to be resuscitated, family funeral plans, and even body donation. The personal nature of this exposure is particularly shocking.
When the Liberty Coalition discovered the file on January 17, 2008, it required a username and password to access, but a public copy persisted in Google’s Cache for several days. Eventually the information was deleted from inspirationhospice.com and Google’s cache. However, it is impossible to determine how many people accessed the file or search engine caches, or whether copies exist on other parts of the internet or on hard drives. By placing this information online, Inspiration Hospice has placed its patients at severe risk of identity theft, medical identity theft, fraud, or embarrassment.
Individuals affected by this exposure should immediately visit www.ssnbreach.org and search for their names, to confirm what types of personal information were exposed.
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Sponsored by the Washington, DC non-profit Liberty Coalition, SSNBreach.org provides hundreds of thousands of free personalized Identity Exposure Reports™ as a public service.
SSNBreach.org documents the types of information exposed, but does NOT contain sensitive data, such as Social Security Numbers, Birth Dates, Addresses, etc. Consequently, there is no way to search for your SSN or any other type of sensitive data on SSNBreach.org. Once we document the types of exposed information and the situation surrounding the exposure, we include the information in personalized Identity Exposure Reports. This information allows victims to further investigate, take action, or correct harm.