State Attorney General Lori Swanson filed a civil lawsuit Thursday against a Chicago firm that she claims failed to protect the medical privacy of thousands of Minnesota patients.

Filed in the U.S. District Court of Minnesota, the lawsuit focuses on the theft last year of a laptop computer that an employee of Accretive Health Inc. left in a locked car in Minneapolis on July 25.

The incident potentially jeopardized 23,000 patient records from the Fairview and North Memorial health systems, where Accretive Health had been hired to provide certain business services. Swanson argues that Accretive Health violated state and federal laws on medical record privacy by failing to better protect the data.

As part of the lawsuit, Swanson also questions why Accretive Health had access to so much sensitive information, including whether patients had HIV, bipolar disorder or schizophrenia. Swanson said the company is licensed in Minnesota as a debt collector.