Mike Beaudet & Producer Kevin RothsteinDEDHAM, Mass. (
MyFoxBoston.com) -- Ten months after promising to scour abandoned state buildings for sensitive patient records, the Patrick administration has finally finished the job, telling FOX Undercover that enough inappropriately stored records were found to fill 17 boxes.
Massachusetts Health and Human Services Secretary John Polanowicz insisted his office has been on top of the issue ever since we brought it to the state's attention in January.
"Be honest, did you hope that we had forgotten about this story?" FOX Undercover reporter Mike Beaudet asked him in a recent interview.
"No," Polanowicz replied.
Self-described urban explorers trespass into abandoned state schools and hospitals in Massachusetts and other buildings across the world, often documenting their exploits on the Web.
"I've found plenty of information. Personal information, medical records," one local explorer told FOX Undercover.
After our first investigation aired in January, the state promised to clean the buildings. We asked for an update in August and were told in an email "the sweeps are ongoing, but very close to complete."
Then silence for three weeks, followed by another email update: "the majority of the cleanup is done and further work is scheduled for completion later this month."
"The timing seems suspicious," Beaudet said to Polanowicz. "We tell you about this in January. Then we check back in and now, finally, you fix the problem."
"You're talking about 32 buildings across 10 different campuses. A lot of these buildings were not only abandoned, but they were dangerous," Polanowicz replied.
"Do you honestly expect the public to believe it took you nine months to address this?" Beaudet asked.
"Absolutely," Polanowicz replied.
"Why so long?" Beaudet asked.
"Mike, it's 32 buildings that have to be scoured across 10 different campuses," Polanowicz replied.
There is reason to be skeptical.
When we first asked about what the urban explorers told us, we were told there weren't any records left behind.
"It has not been an issue," said Clifford Robinson of the state Department of Mental Health said in our original investigation.
But now we know it was an issue, proved by pictures provided by the state showing buildings before and after the cleanup. One of the sites cleaned up was the former Westborough State Hospital, which we were originally told had no records inside.
"Can you say with certainty that there are no more documents with personal information in any of the abandoned buildings?" Beaudet asked Polanowicz.
"I can tell you that in the 32 buildings across the 10 campuses there are no more documents that have any patient or employee information," Polanowicz replied.
The state attributes part of the delay in completing the clean-up to hiring a contractor to deal with files that were contaminated. We're told the contractor is now examining the kind of personal information contained in all the files to determine if former employees and patients need to be notified that their personal security was put at risk.
