Northwestern Memorial employee charged with theft of patients' identities

Northwestern Memorial employee charged with theft of patients' identities


By Naomi Nix

Tribune reporter


A Northwestern Memorial Hospital employee has been charged with identity theft after she allegedly used the personal information of hospital patients to pay her bills, the Cook County State’s Attorney’s office announced Monday.

Shatina Golden, 35, of Matteson was charged with aggravated identity theft and identity theft, after working at Northwestern Memorial Hospital for the last four years, according to the state’s attorney’s office.

Matteson police began to investigate Golden after village officials spotted “suspicious credit card activity” associated with payments for her home water bill, the state’s attorney office said in a statement.

Police identified the actual owners of credit cards that Golden was using to pay her bills. Matteson police were told by the credit card companies that all of the cards had been used at a laboratory in Northwestern Memorial Hospital.

During a search of Golden’s home, Matteson police found paperwork with personal information such as credit card numbers, birth dates and Social Security numbers from more than 50 patients, according to the state’s attorney’s office.

Breaches of patient records have exposed private information of more than 250,000 people in Illinois combined since September 2009, including health records collected by several hospitals, a radiologist practice, a medical lab, a hospice and the Cook County Health and Hospitals System, which has had three breaches, according to a government database.

Businesses that handle billing or other kinds of services for health providers have accounted for six of the 19 largest breaches in the state since fall 2009.

After her arrest, she appeared in a Markham court where her bond was set at $10,000. She is scheduled for a preliminary hearing on June 4.

If convicted, Golden faces up to seven years in prison.


http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chi-northwestern-memorial-employee-charged-with-theft-of-patients-identities-20120514,0,2986747.story