Abortion files tossed into recycling bin

[proud2BlibKansan]

An Overland Park woman made a disturbing discovery Saturday as she dumped her recycling inside a yellow and green bin in front of Brookridge Elementary School:

More than 1,000 private abortion records sat in plain view, tossed on top of magazines and newspapers in a possibly serious violation of federal privacy law.

Even a cursory look at the records, most from 2001 and 2002, showed they contained the most intimate and private of information in patients’ own writing.

The records, typically four to six stapled pages, included women’s names, birth dates, telephone numbers, Social Security numbers and emergency family contacts, a spot check indicated. The first page provided the patients’ health history, number of children, term of pregnancy and previous abortions, if any, along with fees paid for the procedures.




Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2012/03/26/3516018/abortion-files-tossed-into-recycling.html#storylink=cpy

[KansDem]

1. I would like to say that this astounds me.

But, in this day and age...

[proud2BlibKansan]

5. Isn't this doctor the one who was hounded out of business?

Name sounds familiar.

[KansDem]

7. I believe you're correct

I put krishna rajanna kansas in Google and got a lot of right-wing sites from 2004 and 2005 "describing" his practice.

[saras]

2. Not just 'a' trash bin - one far from their source.

I'm curious as to who had them in between when they left the medical offices and when they ended up in front of an elementary school.

[Blue_Tires]

3. I'd like to think that doctor wasn't so ignorant to not know

there are plenty of professional haul-and-shred services who will pick up the boxes...

Also, why didn't the lady who found them just do the smart thing and burn/shred them herself, instead of holding on for them for days?? Especially in a region where bullets and bombs are regularly employed in the abortion debate?

Yeah, the stuff is under lock-and-key now, but do you know how much cash Randall Terry would drop on someone just to get a peek at them?

[proud2BlibKansan]

4. I'll bet this woman is connected to Terry somehow

At least it wouldn't surprise me.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

6. Another option is that it was a fraudulent service that just dumps them instead

[proud2BlibKansan]

8. Why wouldn't the doctor shred records?

I have a shredder at work and one at home. I never throw any paper away that has names on it. It's not that hard to take care of this.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

12. Many places hire it out due to bulk

A friend had a similar scam done to him which is why it comes to mind

[proud2BlibKansan]

13. I guess I don't understand

why they even get to the point that they have a bulk amount to shred. I shred papers all day long at work. If I didn't keep up I'd have a truckload in no time.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

15. I assume it is some sort of cost trade

Those shredding companies do not exist for nothing

[cbdo2007]

16. You have to keep medical records for 10 years by law. Many health offices....

don't know for sure what to do with them after that time. Some of these were less than 10 years old.

[hlthe2b]

9. i was always concerned that this might happen "by accident" by that former KS AG who was going after

the abortion doctors for their records... It would not have surprised me to have those records turn up among extremist anti-abortion (anti-choice) activists with the high risk for "vigilante" retribution to those poor women and/or HCWs.

As bad as this is, at least there wasn't that level of malevolence involved (or at least, it seems).

[ohheckyeah]

10. A reporter took them to lock them up?

A reporter? Really? WTF?

[proud2BlibKansan]

11. I get that part

She called the cops and they refused to respond. Then she called the newspaper.

Only fishy part is the paper doesn't have weekend reporters anymore. I personally have called on a weekend. You get voicemail. So I don't believe we're being told the whole story here.

[ohheckyeah]

14. Not quite what I would want -

my medical records in the hands of a reporter.

I agree - there's something more going on here.

[cbdo2007]

17. Pretty sure this is a set up somehow....

meant to intimidate abortion supporters somehow.

It's just too perfect....1,000 medical records, disposed of carelessly, happened to be found by an anonymous person who called the newspaper first rather than the police. Now the files are being held by the reporter?!?!?! Yeah, definitely something fishy here.

[proud2BlibKansan]

18. She did call the police first. They refused to respond.

So she called the paper.

I still think it's a set up. The paper doesn't have any reporters that work on the weekend.