Drivers find personal medical records scattered on I-85 in Charlotte

CHARLOTTE — A driver on Interstate 85 saw what he thought was trash blowing into his windshield Friday morning, but when he took a closer look, he found they were actually personal medical records from a Georgia hospital.

North Carolina Department of Transportation crews picked up as many of the papers as they could, but they didn’t even know about the situation until we alerted them.

Channel 9′s Erika Jackson has been working to find out how the documents ended up in Charlotte, and why these documents containing a patient’s name, medications, and health history weren’t secured.

Chopper 9 Skyzoom spotted hundreds of the documents along the shoulder near Beatties Ford Road after a driver encountered them.

“I noticed white papers everywhere,” said one driver who asked that we not use his name. “It was a couple at first, then it was the highway was just littered of them. I’m sure it was probably several thousand pieces of paper.”

That driver told Channel 9 that he found the medical records stuck to the front grill of his car.

“I started looking at the papers and I realized there’s a patient name, patient information, all kinds of stuff like that,” he said. “And I was like, this is not good.”

We were able to retrieve some of the documents, ourselves. The papers we saw all have medical information for the same patient at a hospital in Augusta, Georgia. Channel 9 spoke to that man on Friday, and he said he has no idea how his medical records ended up in Charlotte.

Doctor’s Hospital of Augusta told us the first time they heard about the situation was when we called them. That was the same case for the North Carolina Highway Patrol. NCDOT said crews collected eight full bags of documents, but we don’t know how much got blown elsewhere.

While the cleanup is underway, the damage may already be done.

“I wouldn’t want my stuff out there in the world,” the driver said.

At this point, it’s still unclear how the documents ended up on the side of the road. Channel 9 is working on getting more details - check back for updates.

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