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VA probes alleged snooping on Ohio bodies suspect

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The Associated Press Updated 1:31 PM Tuesday, November 24, 2009

CLEVELAND — The Veterans Affairs hospital is investigating whether employees snooped through the private medical records of a suspected serial killer who was living in a home with 11 bodies.

Ashley Trimble, a spokeswoman for the VA in Cleveland, confirmed the investigation Tuesday but said she could not comment on how the investigation would be conducted, what prompted it or whether Anthony Sowell was treated at the VA.

The investigation was first reported by The Plain Dealer.

Privacy laws limit disclosure of a patient's records to that person or someone designated by the patient, Trimble said.

Sowell, 50, whose Cleveland home and yard have yielded the remains of 11 women, served in the Marines from 1978 to 1985 in North Carolina, California and Okinawa, Japan. His military service would have made him eligible for VA medical care.

Sowell has been charged with five counts of aggravated murder and, separately, with rape, kidnapping and attempted murder in an alleged Sept. 22 attack that prompted police to search his home Oct. 29.

Sowell's attorney Brian McGraw said his client was laid off two years ago, but it was unclear what kind of work he had been doing. For a while, he was collecting unemployment checks. McGraw didn't mention VA medical care in his brief comments to the court.

McGraw could not be reached for immediate comment on the alleged medical records snooping or on whether Sowell was treated at the VA hospital. A message left Tuesday at McGraw's office was not immediately returned.

Last month, a federal magistrate judge in Little Rock, Ark., sentenced a doctor and two former hospital employees to a year of probation after they admitted to breaking federal privacy laws by peeking at the medical records of a slain TV anchorwoman.

Last year, the Seattle-based Providence health care company agreed to pay a $100,000 fine and improve its patient information security to settle privacy complaints from 2005 and 2006.

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November 24, 2009 06:29 PM EST

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