Sarasota Memorial Hospital Data Breach (2012)

A heartless hospital worker in Florida is accused of swiping credit card numbers from a patient who had died only hours earlier. After pocketing the information last month, police claim, the 53-year-old staffer paid for airline tickets, phone bills and even bridal shoes. Margaret Nunn, a patient registration representative at Sarasota Memorial Hospital, was arrested Wednesday on charges of identity theft and seven counts of credit card fraud, Sarasota police said in a news release. Nunn allegedly racked up purchases and made payments totaling $1,186 for her personal benefit. With the help of the hospital, investigators determined Nunn had access to the 63-year-old victims personal cards and identification information when he arrived at the emergency room on June 10. Police said Nunn allegedly admitted to jotting down the victims drivers license information and credit card numbers, and then used them to make purchases. The victim wasnt named. Kim Savage, a spokeswoman for Sarasota Memorial Hospital, told ABC News that Nunn was suspended and then terminated on June 29. It was an isolated individual, Savage said. In this case, she just wrote down the information while she was registering the patient. Audits are performed by the hospital to make sure its workers are taking down patient info for legitimate reasons, according to ABC News. Nunn was locked up at Sarasota County Jail on a $10,000 bond, according to reports.