In a breach sure to end up listed on the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services breach bad-list, Shands at the University of Florida sent notification letters to about 12,500 people, warning them of a laptop theft at the end of January.

The Independent Florida Alligator reports (and thanks to lyger on DataLossDB for the tip).

According the article, the laptop “held information about patients referred to the gastroenterology clinical services department over the last three years.” An employee had loaded the data onto a personal laptop for work-related purposes, but then, as Murphy would have it, that laptop was stolen.

The information included names, addresses, medical record numbers and about 650 Social Security Numbers.

Thankfully, Shands leaders “have launched system-wide encryption to prevent similar crime.”