Still, the package containing the records slipped through and was eventually sold as scrap paper at National Product Sales, 1600 S. Empire Road. The teacher noticed the error before distributing the paper to students.

Hospital officials said they were waiting to hear back from UPS — "one to eight business days," Ferrell said — before alerting the affected patients, officials said.

Being warned early, however, is the only way people can start protecting themselves against fraud, said Kirk Torgensen, Utah's chief deputy attorney general.

The records from Central Florida Regional contained detailed medical histories, phone numbers, addresses, Social Security numbers and insurance information.

"If you get that into the wrong hands," Torgensen said, "it's a serious threat. No two ways about it."

Several of the patients whose information was lost in Salt Lake City are now deceased, and some relatives said they were not concerned about the missing box.

"They're no good now," said Henry Humphrey of Sanford, Fla. His mother, Hattie Humphrey, was a patient at the hospital in 2004. "It may contain her (Social Security) number, but that's no good neither."

Actually, Torgensen said the deceased are prime targets for identity theft.

"Dead people, they're not typically looking at their credit file," he said. "What better person to use their identity?"

In Utah, officials have even looked at the possibility of removing Social Security numbers from death certificates, which are often made available for genealogical work. The potential for fraud aside, people said the misplaced records left them feeling vulnerable.

"The most personal information about your health, diseases and infirmities," Torgensen said. "There probably isn't any information that should be protected more than your medical history."

Hospital spokesman Craig A. Bair said officials were in contact with the shipping company and were looking at ways to ensure they did not have this problem again.

"Boxes of that type are shipped like that by hospitals all over the country all the time," he said.

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E-mail: afalk@desnews.com