A computer - like device was stolen from Seton Northwest Hospital . Now two months later , nearly 180 patients possibly affected are just finding out . One of them came to FOX 7 for help . It was inside a locked storage area at Seton Northwest Hospital where a device was stolen . We 're told only names , dates of birth , and Seton account numbers were on it . A patient came to us in tears fearing this could lead to a much larger problem , identity theft . When Brenda Falls received a letter from Seton Healthcare , she never expected to read this , " I see that my privacy and confidentiality has been broken . " It was on February 28 when staff discovered that a Hewlett Packard desktop device had been stolen from the Seton Northwest Sleep Lab . Almost two months later , Falls was notified . " It really did frighten me because I mean , that 's two months that someone could have been stealing my identity . There 's no telling what it was , " Falls said . Seton says the device is used to capture and manipulate data from sleep studies , it does not function like a normal computer . The operator would need a password and access to Seton systems to get a hold of patient data . Data that we 're told only consists of names , dates of birth and Seton account numbers . Falls believes that 's enough to cause harm . " We do n't know who has this and we do n't know what they 're going to do with it . We need to arm ourselves now and protect ourselves because if we do n't do it , nobody else is going to do it for us , " Falls said . In response Seton Healthcare sent the following statement : " But to be safe , Seton already has offered , at no cost to patients , ID protection for a year to all the 180 or so patients whose information we believe is on this data storage device . Seton is sincerely sorry that this incident occurred and plans to work closely with the patients involved to protect them from harm . " " I think I would feel more secure if this was much longer than a year because anything can happen . A lot of things can happen even after a year , " Falls said . This is n't the first time for Seton to be in this type of situation . In October , a laptop computer was stolen from the Seton McCarthy Clinic . Nearly 5,500 people may have been affected and the device carried more data ; including social security numbers , addresses , and insurance information . Falls says she wants more to be done . " First of all making sure this does not happen again and I think Seton needs to step up to the plate , " Falls said . When it comes to making changes , in October the public was told , " Seton has taken steps to reduce the possibility of this happening again . " In this most recent case , the public was once again told , " Seton has taken steps to reduce the possibility of this happening again . " Seton also added that they 've " enhanced physical security for its sleep lab facilities . " ;