West Virginia Office of the Chief Medical Examiner Data Breach (2016)

The letter suspends Tri-State Mortuary Services LLC, Harding Family Group LLC, Gatens-Harding Funeral Home Inc., Haven of Rest Memorial Gardens LLC and Haven of Rest Memory Gardens and Crematorium from transporting deceased bodies to the Medical Examiner’s Office for autopsies. Harding and his businesses also are not permitted to transport bodies from the Medical Examiner’s Office to other funeral homes in the state. “The basis of the suspension is the recent discovery that Tri-State Mortuary and/or the Gatens-Harding Funeral Home was in possession of confidential government documents that appear to have been removed from OCME personnel files and decedent case files,” Izzo wrote in the letter. “Given the appearance of a potential breach of confidentiality and the unlawful taking and/or possession of confidential government documents, it is incumbent upon the Department of Health and Human Resources to initiate an investigation of the purported breach and unlawful taking/and or possession of confidential government documents.”