Pay the theif?

[ntajumper]

What is the name of your state? Illinois

My wife and I have been seperated for about 6 weeks, married for 13 years, 1 child (13 yrs old). All temporary request have been filed with the court, no hearings yet.

I have recently found out that she is being investigated for "theft of patient medical records". She works for a very large HMO, and instead of doing the work, she would sneak it out of the building and "dispose" of it. Well, she got caught with a stack of records that measure almost 2 feet tall! Obviously she will get fired for this, and I looked up the penalty for violating the HIPPA law and it reads...

"Civil and Criminal Penalties. Congress provided civil and criminal penalties for covered entities that misuse personal health information. For civil violations of the standards, OCR may impose monetary penalties up to $100 per violation, up to $25,000 per year, for each requirement or prohibition violated. Criminal penalties apply for certain actions such as knowingly obtaining protected health information in violation of the law. Criminal penalties can range up to $50,000 and one year in prison for certain offenses; up to $100,000 and up to five years in prison if the offenses are committed under "false pretenses"; and up to $250,000 and up to 10 years in prison if the offenses are committed with the intent to sell, transfer or use protected health information for commercial advantage, personal gain or malicious harm."

She currently (until she gets fired) makes more money than I do, so I would have been getting maintenence from her. Now that she wont have any income, will I have to end up paying maintenence to her??

[bulldogg70]

I would just keep my nose down and not worry about her unless something comes up. There are things you can do, but I think it would just be better you stay out of her life as much as you can and like-wise.

[ntajumper]

Originally Posted by bulldogg70

I would just keep my nose down and not worry about her unless something comes up. There are things you can do, but I think it would just be better you stay out of her life as much as you can and like-wise.

Oh, of course, and I am already doing that. But my question still is, would I have to be required to pay her maintenence if she got fired for theft? Common sense tells me "no", but of course thats not always the right answer.

[LdiJ]

Originally Posted by ntajumper

Oh, of course, and I am already doing that. But my question still is, would I have to be required to pay her maintenence if she got fired for theft? Common sense tells me "no", but of course thats not always the right answer.

I think its very unlikely that you would be required to pay her any maintanence or spousal support in a situation like that.

[ntajumper]

I would just keep my nose down and not worry about her unless something comes up. There are things you can do, but I think it would just be better you stay out of her life as much as you can and like-wise.

The bold part of your post has got my curiosity up. Would you mind elaborating on your reply a bit? At this point the only thing I have done concerning her theft issue is distanced myself from her, but theres only so much I can do since there's our 13 yr old daughter involved. Are you saying there's something I should be doing to protect myself and/or our daughter? In the back of my mind theres the concerns of losing our house since she wont have any income to pay the bills.(I moved out, she stayed with our daughter. She was awarded temporary occupancy after taking out a fraudulant OOP which was thrown out of court..how she was awarded anything after that is beyond me but...) And, after she loses the house I fear she may flee with our daughter. Unfortunately I havent come up with a solution to avoid either of those scenerios.

Originally Posted by LdiJ

I think its very unlikely that you would be required to pay her any maintanence or spousal support in a situation like that.

Thank you LdiJ, thats what I thought, but thinking is usually what gets me in trouble. I guess I wont know 100% under the judge speaks, but would still like any other input anyone has.

[VeronicaGia]

Also, keep in mind that being investigated and being convicted are two separate issues. If she's convicted, you will get custody and she will be in prison (hopefully).

[ntajumper]

Originally Posted by VeronicaGia

Also, keep in mind that being investigated and being convicted are two separate issues. If she's convicted, you will get custody and she will be in prison (hopefully).

Well as far as even being prosecuted, that may or not happen. That is going to be completely up to the States Attorney, and/or US Dept of Health and Human Services, but at a minimum...she will be fired. I would suspect that the company she works for is going to want to keep it internal, because if it were to get out that confidential patient information was removed, they too could be in a world of hurt. As nasty as this divorce has been so far (and its only been 7 weeks) I wouldnt want to see her go to prison. Even so, my main concerns are still 1.) that she will flee with my daughter, and 2.) that we will lose the house. Unfortunately I dont have any idea when this all will be "going down" so I have no way of preparing for it to somehow protect my daughter, myself, and my home.

If anyone has any thoughts on how to go about this, I would sure love to hear it.

Thanks in advance.

[ablessin]

Originally Posted by ntajumper

Well as far as even being prosecuted, that may or not happen. That is going to be completely up to the States Attorney, and/or US Dept of Health and Human Services, but at a minimum...she will be fired. I would suspect that the company she works for is going to want to keep it internal, because if it were to get out that confidential patient information was removed, they too could be in a world of hurt. As nasty as this divorce has been so far (and its only been 7 weeks) I wouldnt want to see her go to prison. Even so, my main concerns are still 1.) that she will flee with my daughter, and 2.) that we will lose the house. Unfortunately I dont have any idea when this all will be "going down" so I have no way of preparing for it to somehow protect my daughter, myself, and my home.

If anyone has any thoughts on how to go about this, I would sure love to hear it.

Thanks in advance.

If she is being investigated and flees, she is stupid.
I'd suggest that you get a good lawyer who will help protect your daughter (and you) and anymore she might toss your way. Hopefully she will be investigated under criminal since she stole confidential patient information and discarded it at the nearest trash can (from the sounds of it) where anyone could get their hands on it.
Also, a lawyer will be able to help you prepare for any catastrophes.

[ntajumper]

Originally Posted by ablessin

If she is being investigated and flees, she is stupid.
I'd suggest that you get a good lawyer who will help protect your daughter (and you) and anymore she might toss your way. Hopefully she will be investigated under criminal since she stole confidential patient information and discarded it at the nearest trash can (from the sounds of it) where anyone could get their hands on it.
Also, a lawyer will be able to help you prepare for any catastrophes.

I have a meeting with an attorney scheduled for next week..but now theres a new twist to this. I went back to my house (where she and my daughter are living) two weeks ago to get my personal things. I own my own business so I also took my filing cabinet, which this past weekend I needed some paperwork from. To my surprise, in the bottom drawer is another stack of patient records! Now.. I dont know if that was one of her hiding places, or if she put them there on purpose since she knew I would be taking the cabinet with me, but now I'm in posession of confidential patient records! I certainly dont want to be found with these papers, but what do I do with them now? No matter who I send them to now, they will have to act on the information so she will again, at a minimum get fired for them. How is the judge going to look at this when we go into court for her temporary requests? I certainly dont want it to seem in court that I'm trying to get revenge or be vindictive, but I dont want these in my posession either! Anybody have any ideas?
Ugh...whatta mess! (if I should move this to a different forum now, I would be happy to)

[wegotscrewed]

No matter who I send them to now, they will have to act on the information so she will again, at a minimum get fired for them.

Well if you are now in possession of these files you need to turn them over to your lawyer and allow them to be returned to the institution she works for. The HIPPA act is no joke, I work for a medical school and they take patient confidentiality very serious, as they should. She deserves to be fired at the very least, and if she loses her job over this you may have the right to ask for your house, since she will not be able to make payments and to have temporary custody awarded. Even if her work doesn't take her to court, you certainly can use the information, especially now that you are first-handedly involved (having the files) Talk to your lawyer and see what he says about it.

[ablessin]

Originally Posted by ntajumper

I have a meeting with an attorney scheduled for next week..but now theres a new twist to this. I went back to my house (where she and my daughter are living) two weeks ago to get my personal things. I own my own business so I also took my filing cabinet, which this past weekend I needed some paperwork from. To my surprise, in the bottom drawer is another stack of patient records! Now.. I dont know if that was one of her hiding places, or if she put them there on purpose since she knew I would be taking the cabinet with me, but now I'm in posession of confidential patient records! I certainly dont want to be found with these papers, but what do I do with them now? No matter who I send them to now, they will have to act on the information so she will again, at a minimum get fired for them. How is the judge going to look at this when we go into court for her temporary requests? I certainly dont want it to seem in court that I'm trying to get revenge or be vindictive, but I dont want these in my posession either! Anybody have any ideas?
Ugh...whatta mess! (if I should move this to a different forum now, I would be


happy to)

First of all, you're not in possession of these files on purpose. take them to your lawyer. By 'fessing up - it'll look favorably on your part. You would not have had access to them any other way, so she obviously put them there at some point. My guess is it was recently - she wouldn't hide things where you'd find them and question her while you were together!!!!!


She deserves to be fired. I work in a large medical facility, and HIPAA is crammed down our throats every day and let me tell you - penalties are STIFF for violating patient privacy - if it's done on purpose or in a mean way.

You don't have to worry about getting in trouble

[ntajumper]

Thank you both for your replies. Im not too worried about getting in trouble for having it, but I am worried about how it will make me look in court. I mean... its obvious that if we were still happily married I wouldnt be turning it over to anyone so that she wouldnt get in trouble. Im afraid that by me turning it now it will look like Im trying to get back at her, or use it for my advantage. I know all about the moral obligation, but it still bothers me about how this will make me look in the eyes of a judge.
I also thought about how else I could use it. She obviously knows what I have, and what could happen if I turn it in. If I tell her I want "this, this and this" and I'll give you back the paperwork, wouldnt that be considered blackmail? Or she could come back years later and say she gave me what I wanted under duress?
Like I said earlier..I know all about the moral obligation with this, and of course I want to do the right thing..but I still hate to waste my "Ace in the hole"..or do I really not have that Ace?
This is such a mess, and I want to thank all of you for your kind replies.

[DIVORCEACIDE]

It's been my experience that there are very few "ace in the hole" possibilities when the custodial parent is the female. Short of murder, sexual abuse, or something of that nature, they favor her. If she goes to court for this medical record thing, they will probably let her off easy because she has a child to care for (firt offense). The family court judges don't care either, that she is a criminal. She is the mother.

At least that is what happened in our case.

Mabe it will be different for you? One could only hope!

Good luck