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Experts: Cases Becoming More Common
POSTED: 8:06 pm PDT July 5, 2006
Medical identity theft left one San Diego man with
a $100,000 bill for the birth of a baby and
another with a $40,000 kidney transplant he knew
nothing about. "I told them it wasn't me," said
Joe Ryan. "I took off my clothes and I have no
scars whatsoever."Experts say medical identity
theft is becoming more common because insurance
premiums are so high and medical coverage is
difficult to afford. Investigators traced Ryan's
case to a career criminal named Joseph Henslik,
who left police a voice mail saying, "All I can
tell you is that I was dying and I had to get in
the hospital, but I had no insurance.""Impostors
can change your medical records -- so you can get
different blood types..." said Pam Dixon, of the
World Privacy Forum. "People can have surgery in
your name, so when you go to the doctor they think
your body belongs to someone else."Hensilk died in
December of kidney and liver failure, leaving Ryan
with a nearly fatal financial blow to his
business. He has had difficulty getting the
surgery expunged from his medical record. In
California, changing a medical record is illegal
-- even if it is wrong.It's estimated a quarter of
a million Americans are victims of medical
identify theft, NBC 7/39 reported. Southern
California is considered a hot bed for thieves
because of the high numbers of retirees.
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