More medical papers found on streets

CHEEKTOWAGA, N.Y. (WIVB) - It appears more medical documents are littering the streets, this time in Cheektowaga.

  >> Documents were found in North Tonawanda on Thursday.

Is there a possible link?

Thursday, News 4 recovered medical records scattered across yards in North Tonawanda. Friday, it is images of medical papers spread over the parking lot of a medical office building in Cheektowaga.

But this latest incident is hitting home here at News 4.

A News 4 viewer sent in pictures. One, of papers the sender says were strewn across a Harlem Road parking lot. Another of a letterhead from a medical practice on Harlem Road, Western New York Urology Associates.

A practice that includes at least two members of our news team.

So far, officials at Western New York Urology have told News 4 there were no medical records among the debris recovered in the parking lot.

News 4 is told, those papers were instructional forms, and revealed no one's personal information. Unlike the records News 4 recovered Thursday, in North Tonawanda, that contained names, addresses, and Social Security numbers.

A spokesman for the State Health Department tell us, the state has little oversight of the way of medical records are handled.

Instead, the US Department of Health and Human Services has that job, and if medical privacy issues are being violated, it could lead to federal charges under the HIPAA law.