Legal Question in Civil Litigation in Pennsylvania

I would have a chat with the hospital. I do not understand why an employee had your information on a personal computer unless this was part of the hospital's property and someone just stole the computer when nobody was looking.

Are you going to be needing credit any time soon, like to buy a house or a car? If the answer is no, then the answer is a credit freeze. Here is a link to the PA attorney general's website:

http://www.attorneygeneral.gov/consumers.aspx?id=2085

Follow the directions there. Since your personal information was stolen, there should not be charge. if there is a charge, then see if the hospital will reimburse you for it. In the event that you do decide to buy a car or need credit in the next seven years, you will have to temporarily "thaw" your credit. You can also read about that at the Attorney General's website.

Short of that, you just might want to place on your credit file, not a temporary security alert, which only lasts for 90 days, but an extended fraud alert. It lasts 5 to 7 years. Its not as secure as a credit freeze, but its better than the 90 day alert.

Remember, if you do the freeze or extended alert, contact each credit bureau. Don't rely on the hospital (doubtful they could do it anyway) but they might be able to give you a letter outlining the security breach so that you can do the freeze for free. Don't rely on one credit bureau to tell the others either. They may or may not. The contact information for each bureau is listed at the PA attorney General's website.

As an alternative to all of this, you might see if the hospital will provide credit monitoring for you for a 1 or 2 year period. It would be even better if they would pay for a service. I was going to recommend Life Lock, but they have been fined for deceptive advertising and the CEO, Todd Davis, had his own identity stolen multiple times.

My advice is try the credit freeze if you cannot stand the uncertainty. It totally shuts down your credit and not even a thief will be able to get credit in your name. If you are willing to live with more risk, then do the extended security alert.