Medical Center Reports Stolen Laptop

For Release: June 12, 2013

PALO ALTO, Calif. - Law enforcement has been investigating a recent computer theft at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford.

The incident was reported to the hospital by an employee on May 8. A password-protected, non-functional laptop containing limited medical information on pediatric patients was stolen from a secured, badge-access controlled area of the hospital. Immediately following discovery of the theft, Packard Children’s launched an aggressive investigation with security and law enforcement.

To date, there is no evidence that any pediatric patient data has been accessed by an unauthorized person or otherwise compromised.

The computer was outdated and damaged, thus on a schedule for collection by information technologists. Despite a law enforcement investigation that has now ended, in collaboration with the Stanford Department of Public Safety and Hospital Security, the laptop has not been recovered.

The information that could potentially have been on the stolen computer relates to some operating room schedules over a three-year period beginning in 2009. Although Packard Children’s is not certain which operating schedules would have been on the computer, out of an abundance of caution, 12,900 potentially affected patients are being notified by mail, though there is no indication any patient information has been accessed or compromised.

The information did not include financial or credit card information, nor did it contain Social Security numbers, insurance numbers or any other marketable information. The information on the operating room schedule that potentially could have transferred to the computer would have been patient name, age, medical record number, telephone number, scheduled surgical procedure, and names of physicians involved in the procedure.

The hospital is offering a year of identity theft protection at no cost to potentially-affected families that wish to have it, and is establishing a call center to answer questions from families. The toll-free number is (855) 683-1168, and is available Monday through Saturday from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. PST.

Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital strives to be an industry leader in the area of medical information security. As a result of this incident, we are taking additional steps to further strengthen our policies and controls surrounding the protection of patient data to reduce the chance that an incident of this type will happen again.

Autores

Robert Dicks (650-497-8364, rdicks@stanfordchildrens.org)
Michelle Brandt (650-723-0272, mbrandt@stanford.edu)