Concern grows after veterans’ personal, medical information found in Tennessee home

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) - Law enforcement and federal regulators are investigating whether military veterans’ privacy rights were violated after a batch of Veteran Administration documents were discovered in a private home in Rutherford County.

Late in summer 2023, WSMV4 Investigates got a call from a woman, who says she found the records in the garage of a home she was cleaning out before putting it up for sale.

The documents, which WSMV4 Investigates reviewed, included internal emails, V.A. memorandums and lists of V.A. patients receiving medical treatment at V.A. hospitals in Murfreesboro and Nashville.

The lists, which totaled 19 pages, contained the most sensitive information, including the names, addresses, medical conditions and in some cases phone and partial social security numbers of more than 600 veterans. Most of those veterans were wheelchair-bound and facing severe illness, and public records indicate that many have passed away.

The woman believes her now ex-husband, who is a former employee at the Tennessee Valley V.A. took the records, and because the man has a violent past, WSMV4 Investigates agreed not to identify her, to protect the woman’s safety.

According to the woman, as soon as she realized what the records were, she started calling the V.A. in Murfreesboro to report it, but she said no one would take her call seriously.

Four days later, WSMV4 Investigates sat with the woman when she called the V.A. again, with her informing the veterans’ hospital that she was also speaking with our investigative team. Later that day, a V.A. criminal investigator came to her home and collected the records.

WSMV4 contacted the Tennessee Valley V.A., who did not agree to an interview, but did send a statement confirming that law enforcement and regulators are now involved. The full statement reads:

Patient privacy and the security of medical information are paramount at the Tennessee Valley Healthcare System. This matter is under investigation and we are cooperating fully with law enforcement and regulatory agencies. While we cannot comment on the ongoing investigation, we assure our Veteran patients that we have strict safeguards in place to protect all personal identifiable information.

However, the V.A. in Murfreesboro did not say whether employees are allowed to take these types of records home, or if anyone knew copies of the records were missing.

WSMV4 Investigat has also been in touch with the House Veterans Affairs Committee in Washington D.C., which oversees the V.A. Hospital system, and passed along the patient lists earlier this week.

A staffer on the committee says that information will be passed along to Congressional members for review, and WSMV4 plans to follow up with the committee in the coming weeks.

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