IHC Health Services has gone to court to recover confidential medical records that were found inside a thrift-store file cabinet.
In a lawsuit filed Wednesday in 3rd District Court, IHC said its Salt Lake Clinic had donated the file cabinet to Deseret Industries, not knowing some records and laboratory reports had accidentally slipped behind the drawers.Jerad and Emma Nicholson, Salt Lake City, discovered the records and then contacted FOX 13 News. KSTU news director Geoff Roth said when a reporter asked for copies of the records to show IHC, the Nicholsons asked for payment.
Roth said FOX refused to pay for the records but did air a news story about the incident Tuesday night.
IHC responded with the lawsuit Wednesday morning, seeking a return of the records and an order prohibiting the Nicholsons from disclosing their contents.
The Nicholsons could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
According to the lawsuit, IHC periodically donates office equipment such as file cabinets to Deseret Industries, taking care to remove all medical records from the drawers.
On one occasion, "certain pages of confidential medical information, including laboratory reports" apparently fell behind and under the drawers of one file cabinet and were not visible, the lawsuit said. That cabinet ended up at Deseret Industries and was purchased by the Nicholsons, it said.
IHC said it learned of the oversight when FOX 13 contacted its spokesman for a comment. Roth said the spokesman wanted to see the records before commenting, and that's when the reporter asked for copies. When the Nicholsons asked for money, the reporter left, Roth said.
Roth said KSTU never intended to report on the information contained in the records, only on the fact that the records had ended up in a thrift shop.