Medical mix-up: Woman claims hospital gave records to wrong family
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — One woman says her 97-year-old mother’s medical records were given to the family of a man in his late 50s in a medical mix-up at St. Francis Hospital.
Now, she is trying to sort out how this could happen and whether other patients’ private information is being compromised.
Kimberly Nash is feeling frustration and disbelief after an unbelievable call this week from a woman she didn’t know.
Nash says the woman called her saying she had the medical information for Nash’s 97-year-old mother, Beverly Nash.
“She started reading out records to me my mother’s name and date of birth and the diagnosis and date of discharge. And I realized that she was saying that she had my mother’s records by accident,” Nash said.
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All of the personal information was given to Dale Washington, who said she found it in a stack of paperwork she had been given after her late husband, a patient at St. Francis, died in April.
Washington met with Nash to turn over the records.
“I thought maybe it was somebody from the hospital. Then I read over it and I said, ‘These are actually somebody’s medical papers,'” Washington said.
Nash is thankful Washington reached out to her about the documents. Now, she wants answers knowing this could have gone in a different direction in the wrong hands.
“I mean, we don’t have really a very similar last name. So it’s not like some people I’ve talked to have said it’s an honest mistake, but it’s there’s not a similarity there that I can see that would justify it,” Nash said.
She’s concerned the information could have gotten into the wrong hands.
“Identity theft is the first thing of course that comes to my mind,” Nash said. “And there’s so many scams, I can’t keep up with all of them, but I’m sure that with that as the amount of information that’s on those records of a lot of damage could be done in the wrong hands.”
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WREG reached out to St. Francis Hospital. They said they are looking into what happened but would need more time to find the information.
“That seems like negligence. So I want to make sure that we get it nipped in the bud and that it doesn’t continue to happen to us or others,” Nash said.
We also asked St. Francis Hospital how often something like this happens and what protocols they have in place to prevent it or respond. We are waiting to hear back.
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