Kaiser to pay $49 million to California for illegally dumping private medical records, medical waste

Prosecutors started an investigation in 2015 after undercover trash inspectors found pharmaceutical drugs, and syringes, vials, canisters and other medical devices filled with human blood and other bodily fluids, and body parts removed during surgery inside bins handled by municipal waste haulers. “The items found pose a serious risk to anyone who might come into contact with them from health care providers and patients in the same room as the trash cans to custodians and sanitation workers who directly handle the waste to workers at the landfill,” Bonta said.