Thousands of patient records breached at MLK Hospital

If you’ve seen a doctor at the Martin Luther King Jr. Multi-Service Ambulatory Care Center, expect a letter in the mail pretty soon. Public health officials have disclosed that the center may have leaked personal information from thousands of patients.

Officials at the medical facility in South Los Angeles noticed more than 33,000 patient records missing in late July.

Investigators say at first they thought employees might have mistakenly sent the files to be destroyed.

Then someone who worked there admitted taking the records to a recycling center for the money.

The information in the files included names, addresses, dates of birth and medical record numbers, but officials say the files did not include Social Security numbers or specific financial or medical information.

Investigators say there is no evidence that identity thieves stole the information. But the facility’s sending warning letters next week, just in case.

The letters will be sent to patients who visited the outpatient facility between January and October of 2008.

The employee who took the files faces one count of felony commercial burglary.