Ex-hospital worker admits stealing files, harassing patients

Ex-hospital worker admits stealing files, harassing patients


Staff report



2:44 PM CDT, August 22, 2012



A former worker at the Alexian Brothers Behavioral Health Hospital has admitted stealing patient files and using the information to harass patients, authorities say.



Michelle Morrison, 52, of Elk Grove Village, worked as a patient advocate at the hospital and sent threatening letters to patients from Feb 2011 until June 2012, according to court records and the Cook County sheriff's office. She worked at the hospital from Nov. 23, 2005 until July 28, 2010, when she was fired, officials said.



Authorities allege that Morrison stole files of three patients and hospital stationery and, after she lost her job, sent letters to the patients telling them their electroshock treatments were insufficient and recommending frontal lobotomies.



Morrison admitted to authorities that she typed and sent the letters, saying she wanted to embarrass the hospital "for terminating her employment there,” the sheriff’s office said.



Morrison appeared this morning in a Cook County courtroom in Rolling Meadows on felony forgery charges. Her bond was set at $50,000. She did not speak during the hearing. Her public defender said she has no criminal record and is a single mother with one daughter.



The sheriff’s office said Morrison’s letters contained "vulgar comments, references to confidential medical information and psychiatric treatment received by these patients. Additionally, the letters included threats of exposing sensitive mental treatment material to the patients' families, friends and co-workers."



An investigation into Morrison was launched after patients who received the letters contacted the hospital, authorities said.



A message left with the hospital wasn't immediately returned this morning.



Each of the three counts of forgery for which Morrison was charged carry a penalty of probation to two to five years in prison upon conviction, officials said.







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