Hospital Records for 277,000 Patients Found in Dallas Park

A North Texas hospital is notifying hundreds of thousands of former patients whose personal information was discovered in a Dallas park in May.

It was unclear Friday how some 277,000 records for patients treated at Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital in Fort Worth from 1980 to 1990 ended up at the unidentified park.

The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports the records were stored on microfiche, which is a sheet of microfilm containing images of paper records. The information included names, birth dates, health information and some Social Security numbers.

A spokesman for Arlington-based Texas Health Resources, the hospital's corporate parent, said Shred-it was hired to destroy the microfiche.

A message left Friday, by the Associated Press, with Toronto-based Shred-it was not immediately returned.

Texas Health Resources said it's unlikely the records were obtained and used inappropriately.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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