• FreeAdvice has a new Terms of Service and Privacy Policy, effective May 25, 2018.
    By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our Terms of Service and use of cookies.

HIPPA Violation

Accident - Bankruptcy - Criminal Law / DUI - Business - Consumer - Employment - Family - Immigration - Real Estate - Tax - Traffic - Wills   Please click a topic or scroll down for more.

G

gleasongirl76

Junior Member
What is the name of your state? West Virginia
A friend of mine went to the local Emergency Room where his girlfriend works (she is a friend of mine also). He received bad test results, to confirm, he had his girlfriend (who is a nurse in another part of the hospital) access his information, to see if it was true. They subsequently broke up. He then reported her actions to her hospital. Her hospital reprimanded her by putting her on one year probation. But now 2 years after the incident my friend is threatening to file a formal complaint with Health and Human Services. My question is this: Can he do this? I read on the website that it has to be within 180 days of the alleged incident. She is worried she will lose her nursing license over this. Thanks to all who can help :)
PS This is all because she is suing him for loans he has not repaid.
Have a Very Nice Day!!:)
 


T

turbowray

Member
I dont know the laws pertaining to this but...

I work in a health care facility,and we sign a confidentiality form that states that we may NOT repeat anything medically unless it pertains to our job description. We get fired for something like this plain and simple. Every hospital is different but most are starting to take on this stance. She took a risk going against hospital policy, using her job to find out what would be considered confidential information. She knew better bottom line! It sucks that hes doing this as a result of her pending lawsuits toward him,but he has alot of ammo reguarding this,sorry!!
 
E

ellencee

Senior Member
gleasongirl76 said:
What is the name of your state? West Virginia
A friend of mine went to the local Emergency Room where his girlfriend works (she is a friend of mine also). He received bad test results, to confirm, he had his girlfriend (who is a nurse in another part of the hospital) access his information, to see if it was true. They subsequently broke up. He then reported her actions to her hospital. Her hospital reprimanded her by putting her on one year probation. But now 2 years after the incident my friend is threatening to file a formal complaint with Health and Human Services. My question is this: Can he do this? I read on the website that it has to be within 180 days of the alleged incident. She is worried she will lose her nursing license over this. Thanks to all who can help :)
PS This is all because she is suing him for loans he has not repaid.
Have a Very Nice Day!!:)
Click to expand...
Regarding HIPAA, the nurse did nothing wrong; a patient asked for his test results and she gave them to him.

The hospital most likely responded with a probationary period not because of HIPAA but for issues related to conflict of interest (boyfriend-girlfriend).

The nurse should consult with an attorney and should notify the board of nursing of her ex's intent to harm her through filing of false accusations and should notify her hospital's Human Resources officer and the privacy officer.

EC
 
T

turbowray

Member
your right!!

ellencee said:
Regarding HIPAA, the nurse did nothing wrong; a patient asked for his test results and she gave them to him.

The hospital most likely responded with a probationary period not because of HIPAA but for issues related to conflict of interest (boyfriend-girlfriend).

The nurse should consult with an attorney and should notify the board of nursing of her ex's intent to harm her through filing of false accusations and should notify her hospital's Human Resources officer and the privacy officer.

EC
Click to expand...
apon reading the post more clearly,he asked her to obtain this information,and since it was the person the test results were reguarding i see how low he is being to file a complaint only after they broke up,thanks for correcting me ellencee!!
 
G

gleasongirl76

Junior Member
Thank you guys

Thanks to all who responded. My friend did notify the board of nursing, and everyone else she needed to at the place where she works. She says she knows that what she did was horribly wrong, and knows she put her job in jeopardy. I just hate this for her because she is a very good nurse. The only thing she is worried about is some things she read on the website for HIPPA. It stated that you must have permissionin writing. But then she rests a little easier because it also said something about persons have to file a complaint within 180 days of the incident. I work in a hospital too, and was very upset that she did this, I would never put my job in jeopardy the way she did!
Then again, Paul (her ex) and my friend is being very vindictive!!!

Again,
thanks to everyone ... I will let her know what your answer were!
Mel
 
S

saminalham

Member
should not have accessed info

I work in a hospital as well. Our hospital will terminate any employee who accesses any medical information on any person unless it is necessary to perform treatment.
In other words, I work in radiology. A patient comes into my department for a procedure in which I need to know allergies and history relevant to the procedure itself-ie justification for said procedure. I am not allowed to access a friend's history for any reason whatsoever. It doesn't matter if they asked me to, what matters is that it is not necessary for me to access it. I hope this makes sense.
Your friend probably thought that it was okay because the person wanted the information, but the hospital may fire her for it, or whatever. She should have told the person to get the info from the records department, since they follow proper protocols for this sort of thing-ie identification and signed documentation.
As far as losing licensure, it may be possible. I am not a nurse, but I would be worried about losing my certification if I had done that.
Any of you working in health care-do not access any file that you are not performing procedures on, period. Cover your ass!!!!
 
E

ellencee

Senior Member
saminalham said:
I work in a hospital as well. Our hospital will terminate any employee who accesses any medical information on any person unless it is necessary to perform treatment.
In other words, I work in radiology. A patient comes into my department for a procedure in which I need to know allergies and history relevant to the procedure itself-ie justification for said procedure. I am not allowed to access a friend's history for any reason whatsoever. It doesn't matter if they asked me to, what matters is that it is not necessary for me to access it. I hope this makes sense.
Your friend probably thought that it was okay because the person wanted the information, but the hospital may fire her for it, or whatever. She should have told the person to get the info from the records department, since they follow proper protocols for this sort of thing-ie identification and signed documentation.
As far as losing licensure, it may be possible. I am not a nurse, but I would be worried about losing my certification if I had done that.
Any of you working in health care-do not access any file that you are not performing procedures on, period. Cover your ass!!!!
Click to expand...
I understand the test, initial report, and asking for confirmation to have occurred within a relatively short period of time. If any patient in the hospital or from the ER ask me to give them a copy of a test report or explain a test result to him/her, I am not violating HIPAA in doing it. I may be violating ethical responsibility, but I am not violating HIPAA. I may be violating hospital policy for not referring the patient to medical records or to his/her MD, but I am not violating HIPAA.

I look up test results every day I work and give a copy or an explanation to patients and to family members and absolutely no patient in the hospital is "my" patient. I am not violating HIPAA, I am assisting a patient or family member. It would be quite different if six months after a patient was discharged, I did the same and did not refer the party to Medical Records, but only because of our hospital policy, which is associated with our HIPAA regulations and our in-house policy and procedures.

If I look up my friend's test results because I want to know the results and it has nothing to do with my duties, I have violated HIPAA and am subject to immediate dismissal.

Each institution has policies related to HIPAA and if the policies are more restrictive than the HIPAA law, then the policies stand. Perhaps that is the way 'her' hospital's policies are; we have no way of knowing.

I still believe the hospital reacted to the ethical situation (boyfriend-girlfriend) rather than HIPAA. If she had committed an overt violation of HIPAA, most likely she would have been immediately dismissed.

EC

PS: Remember that a HIPAA violation requires the unwarranted disclosure of protected personal health information to someone other than the patient or the patient's representative or participating entity such as insurance, employer, healthcare providers, etc.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.

Find the Right Lawyer for Your Legal Issue!

Fast, Free, and Confidential
data-ad-format="auto">
Top