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Courtney Orton reportingUniversity of Utah Hospitals & Clinics patients whose personal information was stolen out of a courier's car should be getting notification letters sometime this week.
But more and more of these patients are coming forward to be part of a class-action lawsuit against the company hired by the hospital to transport those records.
The Christensen & Jensen law firm has heard from dozens of frustrated patients who are shocked their personal information was stolen. Attorneys there expect to hear from even more once patients receive those notification letters.
"Different types of frustration: frustration from those who are in similar industries, or the industry, who are shocked it would happen; and then those who have been burned before who are just beside themselves, afraid that this could happen again, and they do not want it to happen again," said attorney Scot Boyd.
The class-action lawsuit was filed against Perpetual Storage, the company hired by the hospital to transport records and backup billing information to a storage vault in Little Cottonwood Canyon.
The suit was filed on behalf of any patient or legal guardian whose information is now vulnerable. That includes approximately 1,050,000 patients who will receive letters letting them know their Social Security numbers were on the tapes, and another 510,000 people who will receive a letter telling them that their Social Security numbers were NOT on the tapes.
The hospital is providing free credit monitoring services for patients whose Social Security numbers were on the tapes. They will receive a letter with an activation code on it so they can register for a year's worth of credit monitoring at the expense of the hospital.
"How many people are actually going to call in and ask? How many people are going to consider it too much of a bother? That is a concern for us representing the class," Boyd said.
Any patient who has visited the University of Utah Hospitals & Clinics in the past 16 years is at risk.
E-mail: corton@ksl.com
