MEMPHIS, Tenn.– Imagine a person more than 1,500 miles away getting access to some of your most personal information. We’re talking about your social security number, address, date of birth and more.
One Memphis man says it’s happening to him, except he is on the receiving end and can’t make it stop.
Joseph Ballard said he is receiving page after page, “Nine pages, nine pages. That’s all from different other clinics.”
He’s talking about faxes that come to his computer.
However, it’s not information he’s asked for.
“I don’t want to know any of this stuff, shoot!” Ballard exclaimed.
He said what he’s getting are faxes from six to eight different medical clinics in Washington State, and he has no idea why.
“I am at my very wits end from all of these clinics from the state of Washington.”
The faxes first started in April and have kept coming as recently as Wednesday, with information for different people.
Being inundated with information you didn’t ask for is annoying, but also extremely concerning.
“These are patients, and I’m getting their information. It’s got their date of birth, their social security number and the place where they live at. This is a violation of their privacy. But if it happened to me, I would be very upset with my family doctor or my heart doctors.”
Ballard just wants the faxes to stop.
“It will cost me to turn around and change my fax number or if they go over the limit of how many pages I get a month. It’s gonna cost me that way, either which way it’s gonna cost me. I have tried several times to have it stopped, and they just don’t do it,” he said.
So we tried on Thursday.
WREG called two of the health centers listed on the faxes, Sea Mar and Kadlec.
Both providers told me they’re doing what they can to fix the problem.
Kadlec also sending us ta statement saying, “We take protecting our patients’ privacy very seriously and have rigorous practices in place. Unfortunately, another health care facility provided our clinic with the wrong number. In this instance, the sensitive information was not printed or accessed and has been erased from the recipient’s fax machine. We have notified the other provider of their error. ”
Since we spoke with the companies Ballard also said he has been in communication with them.
