Patient ID information stolen at Memorial hospitals

Patients of Memorial hospitals in south Broward County had their identities stolen by employees who wanted to use the information to make money filing phony tax returns, Memorial officials said Thursday. Two employees have been fired and are under criminal investigation by federal agents for improperly gaining access to the patients' information, said Kerting Baldwin, a spokeswoman for tax-assisted Memorial Healthcare System, parent of five Memorial hospitals. Memorial sent letters Thursday to about 9,500 patients whose identities may have been exposed by the two employees. Baldwin could not say how many of the 9,500 identities were stolen or whether any of them were misused to file false tax returns.