How would you react to a HIPAA violation of your medical information?

Absolutely I would report the violation. Neither the people involved nor “being a good, God-fearing church-goer” exempts someone from violating confidentiality. You can sue the hospital.

Funny you should mention that! The person involved and all of the people continuing the chain of gossip are in-your-face Christians and judging rather harshly to boot.

I would absolutely report it. Hospitals take HIPAA very seriously and all employees know that.

Well, first I’d get myself a lawyer =D.

I would report the violation…you betcha. I’d spell out in detail the exact nature of the information that was related to extended family and who had access to that information. You do know that this happens frequently at ever level of life we touch though. It is a small world and people know people who will access information for them right and left with little or no influence applied. There was an occasion in the past when someone used either a family member or other associations to gleem my social security number either through a family member from my place of employment OR through the client records at their place of employment. They did a serious background check on me and used financial information in a very underhanded way openly during an intense conflict. I knew what they had done was illegal but the damage they inflicted had alread been done. I probably could have written a few letters to a state agency that oversees this kind of thing but to what end. I still ended up loosing what I most treasured.
But in your circumstances I might be inclined to pitch a whopping fit….expecting the person that breeched this confidentiality to be fired and also setting the rest of my spouses family back on their heels. If he didn’t back me up, he’d find himself sleeping on the sofa for some time to come.
My business is my business. If you are digging for good reason, fine. But for extended family to do this in this kind of circumstance is unconcionable.

Hell, yes, I would report their ass!

I would report this to any and all agency and organization possibly to the nth degree. I wouldn’t care who the person was. Some things are supposed to be protected and if people take a job where they agree to that and fail to do it, they deserve everything they get.

And I wouldn’t discuss with family or friends beforehand that you’re doing it. If anyone brings it up, tell them that you are not going to discuss it, which is what the person should have done with your personal information that they were privy to knowing only because of their work.

In addition to what @BarnacleBill, I wouldn’t even act like you know anything about it. If this person accessed your record while they weren’t directly involved with your care, it could have been noticed during a regular chart audit and an investigation could have come from that.

@Seaofclouds

“If this person accessed your record while they weren’t directly involved with your care, it could have been noticed during a regular chart audit and an investigation could have come from that.”

I’m not sure I understand this part of your comment. I think the tense of the sentence is messing me up, (whatever tense it is, past conditional?). It ”could have been noticed during a regular chart audit” or it might be noticed during an audit so the OP needn’t report it? And if so, how would the hospital notice? And…_ “an investigation could have come from that” or it might come from that? I’m not trying to correct your grammar, I’m just not sure what you’re saying.

I would report it to the hospital and explain the chain or path this violation took. The hospital will then have to look at the person you suspect is the leak. I wouldn’t let it go either. Let the hospital know you want a full report of how your information was leaked and what was or will be done about the HIPPA violation. The least they will do is reprimand this person, the most they will do is fire the person. I would think that since this was not an accidental leak, but a full tilt gossip type of leak, the person will be fired.

I used to work in Medical Records at a large teaching hospital. We lived, ate, and drank HIPPA for months right before it went active. I’m fairly sure other medical personnel did also, so they ALL would understand what a breech in the security of the records would mean. Even if no one other than another doctor or nurse would understand what the info means, it falls under HIPPA. Breeching security could mean prison. So yes, I would support reporting,

I’m an attorney—what do you think I would do? :)

@perspicacious Well, if someone accessed confidential patient records who was not entitled to under HIPPA, without authorization, that would be a violation of federal law, correct? I’m assuming you would report it.

@lillycoyote The hospital I worked at regularly checked which charts we were accessing (since we left a electronic trail where ever we went on the system). If I was caught going into a patient’s record that I wasn’t taking care of, they would know it and question me about it. If there was a concern about a HIPPA violation, there would have been an investigation because the hospitals can also get in trouble.

So, I’m saying that if anyone asked the OP about it, they could say they didn’t know what they were talking about (unless the family was specifically told she complained) because sometimes those things get picked up on chart audits or reported anonymously by other staff members.

I could have written it in a much better way, but I was really tried when I wrote that. Sorry!

I doubt she found out by accessing my chart. She works in radiology and they took an xray when I was brought into the ER. It is possible she saw some paperwork sitting around in the department or something like that. She would not have even known to go to my chart unless she already knew I was there.

I think that at least one of the people in the gossip circle is clueless enough to tell me where she heard it. She would expect nothing more than for me to be mad, but not say anything, at the person for a little bit.

People in hospitals talk. The nurses share stories with other nurses that they shouldn’t. X-Ray techs share, they all share. I was in the ER with my mom recently and I could hear the nurses gossiping about one of the patients that was 3 curtains down from my mom. The scoop was the person had been drinking. That doesn’t make it okay to divulge HIPPA to anyone outside the hospital.

I don’t even think you need to ask your relative to tell you. Start with the hospital, relay the story, relay the connection. Let the hospital implement its process to manage this.

As @GracieT mentioned, this carries the potential for criminal charges both for the individual employee and the hospital. Depending on the facts, you are likely to have significant leverage if you feel the need to pursue the matter to satisfy your sense of fairness or justice.

These days I’m juuust crabby enough to maybe get violent.