SALEM, Ore. (AP) — An 81-year-old Salem man was safe in a hospital while friends and police searched for him for two days this week after he disappeared from his home — but medical workers wouldn’t tell police that, citing a federal privacy law.

Eventually, an anonymous tipster told police the diabetic man was in Salem Hospital, and he’s since been transferred to an adult care facility, the Statesman Journal reported (http://stjr.nl/10gRVFZ).