Any doctors or lawyers out there?

[rhk109]

Too make a long story short...

My wife is pregnant. We told no one except immediate family.

We are 6.5 weeks into the pregnancy and we just found out there is a good chance we will have a miscarriage. Tonight my wife confides in one of our close friends. This friend tells my wife that she (and the rest of our friends) already knows that my wife is pregnant because the sister of one of our friends works as a secretary in my wife's doctors office. Apparently our friend's sister looked in my wifes file and told our friend that my wife is pregnant. Our friend in turn, told everyone in the tri-county area.

Isn't this a breech of doctor patient confidentiality? What if my wife had decided on an abortion or had HIV?

What should I do about this? Any advice from someone in the medical or law field is appreciated.

Sorry for the rant but I am really ticked right now.

[RoninLB]

Your situation became coffee time chatter.

[rhk109]

Originally posted by RoninLB
Your situation became coffee time chatter.

huh?

[RoninLB]

I'm not a doc. My take is that any group you deal with has office chatter. I lived w/ a nurse and the chatter between them if full of inside info. If it leaves the group that's rude imo. I've never heard of anyone being sued over it in all my yrs of hanging all around the full monty.

although their are lawyers around that could probably get you a quick $5-10k.

[carmad]

This is off the AMA website, I work in healthcare and patient confidentiality is a huge deal.
The HIPAA Privacy Standards require physicians to protect the privacy of patients' medical information. Physicians are required to control the ways in which they use and disclose patients' "protected health information." In addition, physicians are required to offer patients certain rights with respect to their information, such as the right to access and copying, the right to request amendments, and the right to request an accounting. Finally, physicians are required to have certain administrative protections in place (such as a Privacy Officer, staff training, and implementation of appropriate Policies and Procedures) to further protect the privacy of patients' information. The compliance date for the Privacy Standards was April 14, 2003.

Failure to comply with HIPAA can result in civil and criminal penalties (42 USC § 1320d-5).

Civil Penalties

Violations of the Administrative Simplification Regulations can result civil monetary penalties of $100 per violation, up to $25,000 per year.

Criminal Penalties

In June 2005, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) clarified who can be held criminally liable under HIPAA. Covered entities and specified individuals, as explained below, whom "knowingly" obtain or disclose individually identifiable health information in violation of the Administrative Simplification Regulations face a fine of up to $50,000, as well as imprisonment up to one year. Offenses committed under false pretenses allow penalties to be increased to a $100,000 fine, with up to five years in prison. Finally, offenses committed with the intent to sell, transfer, or use individually identifiable health information for commercial advantage, personal gain or malicious harm permit fines of $250,000, and imprisonment for up to ten years.

Covered Entity and Specified Individuals

The DOJ concluded that the criminal penalties for a violation of HIPAA are directly applicable to covered entities—including health plans, health care clearinghouses, health care providers who transmit claims in electronic form, and Medicare prescription drug card sponsors. Individuals such as directors, employees, or officers of the covered entity, where the covered entity is not an individual, may also be directly criminally liable under HIPAA in accordance with principles of "corporate criminal liability." Where an individual of a covered entity is not directly liable under HIPAA, they can still be charged with conspiracy or aiding and abetting.

Knowingly

The DOJ interpreted the "knowingly" element of the HIPAA statute for criminal liability as requiring only knowledge of the actions that constitute an offense. Specific knowledge of an action being in violation of the HIPAA statute is not required.

The full DOJ memorandum is available online.

Exclusion

The Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) has the authority to exclude from participation in Medicare any covered entity that was not compliant with the transaction and code set standards by October 16, 2003 (where an extension was obtained and the covered entity is not small) (68 FR 48805).

Enforcing Agencies

The DHHS Office of Civil Rights (OCR) enforces the privacy standards, while the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid (CMS) enforces both the transaction and code set standards and the security standards (65 FR 18895). Enforcement of the civil monetary provisions has not yet been tasked to an agency.

Please refer to the AMA's FAQs on the privacy regulations for additional information on enforcement of the privacy standards.

No Private Cause of Action

While HIPAA protects the health information of individuals, it does not create a private cause of action for those aggrieved (65 FR 82566). State law, however, may provide other theories of liability.

Last updated: Jul 18, 2005
Content provided by: Office of General Counsel

Privacy Statement | Advertise with us
Copyright 1995-2005 American Medical Association. All rights reserved.

[rhk109]

I am not looking to make a quick buck.

I'm pissed our personal information was broadcasted like the 6'oclock news.

[dad911]

I would have a chat with the Doctor. I am sure he would want to know about his employees actions.

[Moses]

Originally posted by rhk109
Isn't this a breech of doctor patient confidentiality?

It's a huge breach. Confidentiality is the cornerstone of trust. The law is clear on this issue, NO medical information can be released to anyone without patient consent.

If I were you, I would send a letter to the doctor (marked personal) detailing your concerns and letting him/her know that you will be reporting this violation to the state medical board if appropriate action is not taken.

The person who disclosed your wifes medical information should be fired immediately. No second chances in a case like this.

[nostatic]

my understanding is that HIPAA is pretty serious business. I know that the med school goes through massive hoops concerning back end systems and the latest HIPAA regs.

[pwd72s]

I'm not a lawyer, but it seems to me that perhaps you shouldn't have told all of us your tale if it was legal action you had in mind...

[dtw]

Originally posted by rhk109
I'm pissed our personal information was broadcasted like the 6'oclock news.

[Hugh R]

Gotta agree with Moses, if your not looking for money, write the Doc a stern letter explaining the whole pregancy, possible miscarriage thing and the angst the whole issue is burdening you and your wife. Nothing like knowing someone is preganant and then they're not. I wish you and your wife all the best.

[HardDrive]

My wife is a doctor.

I think you should take it up directly with the doctor. The woman should lose her job. NOW. Its an outrageous breach of confidentiality.

You could assuredly get an attorney to make some waves....but for god sake...please don't. The physician is not the one who has wronged you, but it will be his ass if you sue.

[livi]

I am a doctor. But that will not help on this matter.

I will tell you that confidentiality has been broken big time in your case and that it is considered very serious.

I will also tell you that, as previously mentioned, patient confidentiality in its purest form is very hard to come by. The information is disclosed on a need to know basis, as it where.

Under some circumstances the medical condition or situation will be too much of BIG NEWS for the staff to handle.

Two people can share a secret...

Take it up with the parties involved at the clinic. Its always better if you can meet, sit down and get it sorted.

[cool_chick]

OMG I would be soooooo pissed!

So sorry this happened. It's your right to tell whomever you choose when you choose.

I think Moses and others who share his sentiments is onbase...deal with the doctor.

[red-beard]

Unless you plan to sue, I would arrange to talk to the Doctor tomorrow. This is not an in writing thing, it is an "in Person" thing. I am sure the Doctor will not take this lightly and I do expect that the disclosing person will be fired.

[Jims5543]

I totally feel for you right now. I am so sorry to hear this having endured a miscarraige with my wife about 5 years ago.

We had kept her pregnancy a secret due to it being about as far as long as yours. My parents and her parents knew and that was it. My parents did not honor our wish to keep it to themselves and broadcasted it everywhere.

Unfortunatly after the miscarraige they didn't broadcast as well.


There is NOTHING more heartbreaking than being approached over and over again with comments like, "so hows the little baby doing?" etc...

Even a trip to NYC which we thought would give us a break from the BS netted us the same thing. My parents spread the word there as well.

Final result, I NEVER confide in them about anything anymore. They are usually the last to know.

I totally understand your anger.

[gchappel]

Yes there was a confidentiality breech- big time. I would certainly agree that you should have a talk to the doctor, but the issue is really with your "friend" and her sister. I don't care what type of patient confidentiality plan the office has in place, if one of the trusted personel want to read a chart, they can. The real issue here is that it was shared outside the office which is not acceptable. Yes the secretary/nurse was wrong, she told a secret to her family, probably in confidence. No she should not have done it, but sisters share all kinds of things. Maybe it came up by accident at the dinner table or something, slips do happen, usually with no malice and probably with no evil plan. No it is not right, but it may not be enough that they deserve to lose thier job. We have all done it, said something about work we wish we could take back. Talk to the doctor and confront the employee before you decide to demand she lose her job. If this is her first breech of confidence she might deserve a break. If she can't be trusted, she needs to be out of there. If you confront her I'll bet she never does it again, which may be more than you can say for her replacement. The other big issue that is not discussed yet, is that your "friend" thought it was somehow ok to spread it around. Family members of physicians, and I assume their staff, do occasionally here more than they should. They should know better than to spread it around. I would be as "ticked" or more with my "friend" than with the office.
Yes, talk to the doctor. Should the employee be fired for sharing a secret with her sister- maybe. Before you ruin her job talk to her. You will be firing a friends sister, but with friends like that you don't need enemies. I would have a LONG talk with your friend as well
Gary

[asphaltgambler]

I play a doctor on TV

[Joeaksa]

My ex is a surgeon. They all talk but there are limits and this one is way over the limit.

What in the world was she doing going through the whole file? This needs to stop and she needs to find a new job...

JoeA