OR report found on front lawn of hospital

CHATHAM, Ont. – Officials from the Chatham-Kent Health Alliance have completed an investigation of a privacy breach after a copy of an operating room report was found on the front lawn of the hospital.

The Chatham hospital has alerted the public about the breach that occurred two months ago, CBC News reported. The operating room report included the names of seven patients, their dates of birth, health card numbers and procedures.

The hospital says all seven patients have been contacted and a “thorough investigation” has determined there was no malicious intent and no personal health information was compromised.

Officials also say it has implemented new privacy and security safeguards for records disposal and shredding to prevent something similar from happening again.

“This is an unfortunate situation and we apologize to those patients affected,” said Lori Marshall (pictured), the hospital’s president and CEO. “We are confident that after a thorough investigation we have implemented practices and procedures which will circumvent this in the future.”