Thread: Pair Accused Of Stealing Hospital Patients' Information

http://www.nbc6.net/news/9812983/detail.html

Pair Accused Of Stealing Hospital Patients' Information

POSTED: 7:00 pm EDT September 8, 2006
UPDATED: 8:26 pm EDT September 8, 2006

WESTON, Fla. -- Two suspects have been arrested in the alleged identity theft of 1,100 Cleveland Clinic patients.

Federal authorities said Isis Machado, of Miami Lakes, a former front desk coordinator at the Cleveland Clinic hospital in Weston, allegedly used her computer to obtain the dates of birth, Social Security numbers and medical numbers of patients and then sold the information to Fernando Ferrer, Jr., of Naples, Fla.

"Today's case is an unwholesome criminal trilogy of medical privacy violations, identity theft and health care fraud that, absent careful vigilance, may become all too common," said U.S. Attorney Alexander Acosta. "We allege that Machado illegally accessed the Cleveland Clinic's computerized patient files, downloaded the personal information of at least 1,100 patients and then sold this private medical information to her co-conspirator."

"The personal information was then used in an attempt to defraud the Medicare program of more than $2.8 million, almost $3 million," said Timothy Delaney of the FBI.

Cleveland Clinic officials said this is the first time they have had a crime of this magnitude at their facilities.

"In a rapidly expanding world of electronic medical records, preserving the privacy and the integrity of confidential patient information is critical," Acosta said.

Cleveland Clinic officials said they responded promptly, notifying authorities and then terminating Machado.

"The Cleveland Clinic Florida has cooperated fully in this investigation and is also conducting an internal risk assessment to prevent such an event from happening again," the Cleveland Clinic said in a statement.

"Vigilance and swift response are key to preventing these types of crimes," Acosta said.

Machado and Ferrer, who are out on bond, face a number of criminal charges, including identity theft, fraud and wrongful disclosure of private medical information, NBC 6's Sharon Lawson reported.

The Cleveland Clinic has set up a hotline at 866-907-0675 for any patients who think that they might have fallen victim.
Copyright 2006 by NBC6.net. All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Once again, we do not know if the criminals are Americans, or not.

It's so infuriating that we do not know whether or not these are American Citizens doing this or aliens, whether legal or illegal.

Damn It!!

WE NEED TO KNOW the source and purpose of these crimes.

Originally Posted by Judy

It's so infuriating that we do not know whether or not these are American Citizens doing this or aliens, whether legal or illegal.

Damn It!!

WE NEED TO KNOW the source and purpose of these crimes.

Sorry, that's TOP SECRET.

I do know that they're cousins, though.

Judy,

I agree. Personally, I think every crime should now have a residential status attached. American citizen, ......illegal alien, and everything in between.

I think that simple addition to stories about crime, would shock some Americans out of their complacency.

Hey we should send an ALIPAC Letter to the Media and advise them that WE want to know legal status of criminals and IF they don't start including this basic information, WE'll expose them for complicity in concealing the presence of illegal aliens and turn them over to the cities and states for prosecution under state laws.



That would be cool wouldn't it? To have state laws that Bush and Cheney and Chertoff and all the Traitors...CEOs, Media, Tink Tanks, Not For Profits, ACLU, Southern Povery Law Center, etc. etc. in that Lying Treasonous Gobalist Pig Pen so we could remove them from their Pig Pen. and lock them up in State Pens in every State Capital in the country!!

State's Rights And All That!

One thing we do know is they were probably going to sell the info to Illegals.

Isis Machado and Fernando Ferrer, Jr. are doing the jobs Americans don't do.