A good Samaritan says he was surprised when he discovered thousands of documents marked confidential in a dumpster . 10TV examined the documents and found medical records containing patients ' social security numbers , dates of birth , as well as detailed information about medical conditions and prescriptions . For now , 10TV is n't disclosing the locations of the dumpsters to protect the sensitive information from would - be identity thieves . The tipster , who asked not to be identified , said " we started looking and it said patient information and things like that and just got concerned that there was information in there that probably should n't be in the dumpster . " The Ohio Medical Board says it has the authority to take action when patients ' records are discarded in a dumpster , because it 's considered a violation of the minimal standards of care . However , 10TV has learned the doctor who ran the practice died in January . A maintenance worker who allowed 10TV to view the abandoned space , says it was filled with boxes of abandoned medical records that ultimately ended up in the dumpsters . 10TV recovered one document that led us to former patient , Darell Webb . He says he 's upset that someone could have swiped the documents and stolen his identity . " It should have been properly disposed of ... like being shredded and then disposed of ... not just thrown in the trash can like that . " Columbus police say the person who dumped the records did n't break any laws , and the medical documents are still exposed in the dumpsters . 10TV is continuing to search for answers to explain how this could happen , and how to make sure it does n't happen again . ;