Planned Parenthood leaves patient files behind at closed Iowa facility

Approximately 2,500 patients of a former Planned Parenthood facility in Dubuque, Iowa, have been notified that their health records may have been left behind and “accessed by unauthorized parties,” following the facility’s closure in April.

Spokeswoman Rachel Lopez says that medical records from 2008 to 2014 may have been compromised after Planned Parenthood “inadvertently” left them behind upon moving out. The records were reportedly discovered by the building’s new owner, Clarity Clinic.

Kris Nauman, executive director of Clarity Clinic, said the documents were discovered in a closet during a final walk-through of the building. According to Nauman, Planned Parenthood was notified immediately, but ten days passed before the documents were retrieved.

“In anyone’s institutional memory, we cannot remember seeing a breach of this scale in decades at Planned Parenthood of the Heartland,” said Lopez, who also stated that Planned Parenthood waited nearly two months before notifying patients of the breach, in order to “gain a better understanding of the situation.”

According to the The Sacramento Bee, “Patients have been encouraged to contact the Federal Trade Commission’s Division of Privacy and Identity Protection.”