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Tuesday August 8 8:40 AM ET

Report: Cancer Institute Patient Data Stolen

BOSTON (Reuters) - The Dana-Farber Cancer Institute is notifying 12,000 patients that personal information, including Social Security numbers, may have been stolen from their records and used fraudulently, the Boston Globe reported on Tuesday.

A temporary worker at Dana-Farber allegedly used a patient's name and other data to obtain $2,500 in telephone services. The suspect, a patient intake worker, is accused of having the personal data for 23 other patients in her pocketbook, the Globe reported.

Dana-Farber officials told the Globe that medical records for cancer patients are kept separately and are not involved.

``We will do everything in our power to make sure this does not get in the way of medical care,'' Dana-Farber Chief Operating Officer James Conway told the Globe.

The Boston Police Department's Major Case Unit is investigating the financial and credit histories of several patients to determine whether any of their personal information was used, the Globe said.

Dana-Farber discovered the problem July 28 and contacted police immediately, Conway told the Globe.

The cancer research institute employed the accused worker from February until May, during which time 12,000 patients came to Dana-Farber for treatment.

-- Rachel Gibson (rgibson@hotmail.com), August 08, 2000