Is this a HIPPA Violation?

What is the name of your state? KY

If a person is being arrested for suspicion of DUI-drugs, and is taken to the local hospital for a blood test, are this person's HIPPA rights violated if the arresting officer's civilian riding companion is allowed to be present during the health questioning by the hospital's lab tech and actual blood drawing of the suspect?

This happened recently to someone I know and we are curious to see if there was a violation of his rights.

No, it is not a HIPAA violation.

Contrary to popular belief, the general public, including law enforcement officers are not subject to HIPAA. Health care providers, SOME (but not all or even most) employer sponsored group health insurance plans and their administrators, and health care clearinghouses are the only ones who are required under the law to be HIPAA compliant.

Edited for clarity:

Let me rephrase that somewhat. ALL health plans are subject to HIPAA. Only some employers are required to be HIPAA compliant, depending on how it is administered.

Hippa Violation

State – PA

I was ambulance captain at a volunteer firehouse in 2004. One of the firefighters and EMT’s got on are computer that we use to type ambulance reports and somehow erased are “Code Three” the soft were we use to write ambulance reports. The short cut icon was erased from the desktop, however the program was still deep inside of the computer. I did a system restore and was able to get everything back. The person on the computer has no HIPPA training and is not an EMT so they do not write ambulance reports. That individual was also the last person to be seen on the computer. Everything was traced back to that individual. My questions are the following.

Is this a HIPPA violation?

Do I have a legal and moral responsibility to report this if it is a HIPPA violation?

Can I be held accountable for this?

I reported the incident to the president of the firehouse and he said that he would take care of the incident. He had also said he was going o have a camera installed in the room so something like this could not happen again. Neither one was ever done.


Thank you