Personal Information Stolen From DeKalb Medical Patients

Some bad news for . The U.S. Secret Service is investigating how patients' personal information was stolen from the health system's Hillandale facility, WSB-TV reported.

About 7,500 patients may have been affected by the theft, which investigators believe was used to file fake tax returns with the Internal Revenue Service.

The information stolen was taken from patients who visited the system's Hillandale facility between July and October 2010, the TV station reported.

“DeKalb Medical is deeply committed not only to the care of our patients, but to the protection of all information entrusted to us. We sincerely regret that this personal information was compromised and are notifying and offering services to all individuals whose data could have possibly been included in this theft. We take this matter very seriously and are taking steps designed to minimize the possibility of such an event occurring in the future,” said Eric Norwood, the system's CEO, to the station.

For more information read the rest of the story here. DeKalb Medical's main facility is in North Decatur.