A closer look at parade confetti reveals medical records
The U.S. Women’s soccer team earned well-deserved praise for their World Cup victory over Japan as well as a New York City ticker-tape parade. The confetti that rained down on them during that parade, however, contained a surprise: patient medical information.
Among the scraps of paper used for the confetti were patient names, doctor’s office addresses and prescription information, according to New York news station 13 WMAZ. There’s no definite explanation as of yet, but the official confetti supplier of this parade was Atlas Packaging Company, which provided two tons of strip cut, blank, news roll. However, WMAZ suggested the issue could have been rooted in confetti created and thrown by local businesses and residents.
A similar incident occurred in 2012 during the parade celebrating the New York Giants’ Super Bowl victory, when social security numbers and medical records were found on the confetti used during that celebration.
Editor
Editor Beth earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism and master’s in health communication. She has worked in hospital, academic and publishing settings over the past 20 years. Beth joined TriMed in 2005, as editor of CMIO and Clinical Innovation + Technology. When not covering all things related to health IT, she spends time with her husband and three children.