Medical Identity Fraud

Here is a hinky and dangerous twist for ID Theft: Someone dumpster dives to steal your identity so they can get quality medical care. A Florida woman found out the hard way that someone compromised her identity in order to have a diabetic foot amputated. When the bill collectors showed up, she had to show them affidavits and pictures of her toes and the fact that they were still attached in order to make them go away.

The dangerous part of this is there is a risk that your medical information could be poisoned with false information, such as wrong blood type, medical history, drug interaction history or that you have a major disease such as diabetes or a heart condition.

From the LATimes here:

ID Theft Infects Medical Records

After shoulder surgery last year, Lind Weaver was stunned when hospital bill collectors demanded that she pay for the amputation of her right foot.

“Either you didn’t do the surgery, or you did a really [shoddy] job of it,” Weaver told them, sending along notarized photos of her toes, all still attached. “Either way, I’m not paying.”

But the 56-year-old retired schoolteacher quickly discovered she was dealing with something more nefarious than a simple clerical error: An identity thief had obtained medical care under Weaver’s name and had the bill sent to her insurer.

A year later, Weaver is still trying to catch errors in her medical records and clear the hospital bills fraudulently run up in her name.

With their medical records compromised, victims of this kind of fraud face a greater risk of injury or even death if doctors make treatment decisions based on bad information. Files might list incorrect prescriptions or the wrong blood type. Or, as in Weaver’s case, an erroneous diagnosis of diabetes.