[widebody911]

My wife manages a healthcare clinic. Yesterday someone broke into one of her employee's car. It was in the middle of the day and they have clear security camera footage of the perp in action; it is one of their patients, so identification is easy - he had been in for an appointment just minutes prior. I told her "So just file a police report, give the cops a copy of the footage, should be a slam dunk, right?"

Nope.

The way she explained it, because the perp is a patient of her clinic, HIPPA forbids them from identifying him; they can't give the cops the footage and they can't release the perp's name - not even with a subpoena.

This doesn't make sense to me; someone can commit a crime in broad daylight, just so long as they are in front of their doctor's office?