Thousands of x-rays stolen from El Centro Regional Medical Center

A company contracted to digitize, archive and destroy El Centro Regional Medical Center’s x-rays defrauded the hospital, ECRMC announced today.

“They failed to complete the digitizing process, or have not as of yet returned the digitized version to the hospital,” said ECRMC Chief Executive Officer David Green who noted the company—which wasn't named—was supposed to deliver the records by the end of July.

As far as what happened with the original x-rays, Green said they were taken and possibly destroyed to extract the silver.

The theft of used x-rays from hospitals is becoming more common as the price of silver has increased over the years. An ounce of silver is about $34.

But although Green did note that the x-ray films were taken and likely destroyed for the silver in them, he didn't comment on how many x-rays were taken nor the number of patients affected as to not affect the investigation.

Green also said the jackets and the physician radiology reports were retrieved and secured by the hospital, and added that “the x ray itself has only the name of the patient, date of birth— may have the name of the hospital (or) hospital medical record number, which would be meaningless to anyone. “

ECRMC has reported the incident to state and federal regulatory agencies and is working with the FBI to further investigate this company, the release reads.

If ECRMC staff had any wrong doing, Green said these employees would be held accountable and disciplined. 

More information on this matter in tomorrow's edition of the Imperial Valley Press.