WLTX reports:

The Dorn Veterans Administration Hospital in Columbia says some old records are missing, and is warning veterans that their personal information could be compromised.

According to Dorn officials, four boxes of pathology reports that were stored in a locked area in the medical center laboratory are gone. The loss of the records was first noticed by staff back on July 14th, when they were getting ready to ship them to a long-term records storage facility.

The records include patients’ names, Social Security numbers, and pathology reports. The records are from the years 1999, 2000, and 2002 only.

Dorn officials say they’re in the process of notifying 2,179 veterans that could be affected.

Read more on WLTX.

If they were getting ready to ship them, hadn’t the boxes already been inventoried with a sheet made up with the names and IDs of patients whose records were in the boxes? If so, why the delay in notifying?