NEW YORK, April 12 (UPI) -- Private medical information of as many as 40,000 patients has allegedly been stolen by an employee of a New York hospital, a spokeswoman said.

Federal investigators have accused a worker at the New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center of stealing patients' names, phone numbers and Social Security numbers, The New York Times (NYSE:NYT) reported.

After the hospital was made aware of the theft in January, it was confirmed in an internal investigation hospital spokeswoman Myrna Manners said.

"We obviously deeply regret that this has happened," she told the Times.

The U.S. attorney's office, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the U.S. Secret Service reportedly were all looking into the case.