HIPAA Violations Lead to Lawsuit

Updated 3/2017-- all links (except to my own posts) removed as many no longer active. and it was easier than checking each one. 

It’s been a year since Anne Pressly, 26, was found beaten bloody and unconscious in her bed by her mother, Patricia Cannady.   Pressly was a well respected, well loved news reporter who worked for KATV, Channel 7.  She never recovered from her injuries and died on Oct. 25.

Cannady is has filed a lawsuit claiming her daughters privacy (under HIPAA) was violated.  The suit names St. Vincent Infirmary Medical Center, Dr. Jay Holland, Candida Griffin, and Sara Elizabeth Miller.

Anne Pressly's Mom Sues Hospital, Dr., Others by Monika Rued; October 21, 2009; KTHV.com

The lawsuit by Patricia Cannady claims they violated Pressly's privacy by illegally looking at her medical records….

Cannady's lawsuit says the actions of the three were extreme and outrageous. It also accuses the hospital of failing to have a system that keeps employees and doctors from illegally accessing medical records.

St. Vincent's issued a statement saying it stands by its safeguards and how the situation was handled.

Pressly’s mother suing 3, hospital:  Daughter’s privacy violated, she says By John Lynch; October 21, 2009; ArkansasOnline.com (subscription required)

The hospital has acknowledged firing at least six employees for violating Pressly’s privacy but won’t say exactly how many, and officials on Monday would release only a three-sentence statement defending the hospital.

“We take every patient’s privacy seriously,” the statement from spokesman Margaret Preston reads. “We stand by our commitment to patient privacy, our safeguards and how we handled this situation.”

Jay Holland, a doctor who worked at the hospital; Candida Griffin, a former emergency-room coordinator; and Sara Elizabeth Miller, a former account representative, are targets of Cannady’s lawsuit. The three have each pleaded guilty in federal court to a single misdemeanor count of violating federal health privacy laws, known as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996. They each face a maximum of year in jail and a $50,000 fine when they are sentenced next Monday.

Griffin and Miller were fired, acknowledging in their June court appearance that they looked at Pressly’s records out of curiosity during the first two days of her stay in the emergency room before she was moved to intensive care.

Previous related post:
Don’t Forget HIPAA Privacy Rules (July 2, 2009)

Addendum (October 25, 2009)
Sentences were handed out today to the three convicted of HIPAA violations as follows:

A federal judge has sentenced a doctor and two former hospital employees to a year of probation after they admitted breaking federal privacy laws by peeking at the medical records of KATV's Anne Pressly.

Dr. Jay Holland was also fined $5,000 and ordered to perform 50 hours of community service by speaking to medical workers about the importance of patient privacy.

Candida Griffin, a former emergency room unit coordinator at St. Vincent Health System, was fined $1,500, while Sarah Elizabeth Miller, a former account representative at St. Vincent Medical Center in Sherwood, received a $2,500 fine.

Don’t Forget HIPAA Privacy Rules

 Updated 3/2017-- all links (except to my own posts) removed as many no longer active. and it was easier than checking each one.

As we move towards EMR’s, the ability to know who has looked at the medical record may get more and more in trouble. While we are all curious about our friends, neighbors, and celebrities (local or global), it is important to respect each others privacy. This local Arkansas story (3/2017-- link no longer active) shows the importance of this respect.

Hospital emergency room coordinator Candida Griffin, patient account representative Sarah Elizabeth Miller and Dr. Jay Holland, a family doctor who worked part time at the hospital, each face up to a year in prison and $50,000 fine if convicted of the misdemeanor charge.

I would hope that all three of the people listed above would have “known better.” When this story broke earlier this week, the staff in the OR and I had a nice discussion on who gets HIPAA training and how much each get.

I think as part of their punishment, they and perhaps the facility (St Vincent Health System) should have to do refresher courses on HIPAA privacy rules.

The hospital said in November that it fired up to six people for looking at Pressly's records after a routine patient-privacy audit showed that as many as eight people gained access to them.

It was not immediately clear whether others fired from the hospital would face charges. U.S. Attorney Jane Duke declined to comment about the charges Tuesday.

With paper charts, there isn’t a trail proving you or I accessed the chart without need to do so. With EMR’s there is but this trail is not fool-proof. If I haven’t logged off and you look over my shoulder, then ….

If you haven’t logged off and I ask for a quick look at patient 007’s lab work and you do me a “favor” of checking quickly. See, not perfect. No harm was intended and patient 007’s info may never be “leaked” to the press, but someone who perhaps had no need to access it did so.

My circulating nurse in the OR during the discussion revealed that she had heard a lot of talk about the Ann Pressley case which she admits she should not have. She didn’t access the chart. She was working in another hospital’s ER. It was the police and EMT’s doing the talking. There is no trail to “prove” those violations of patient privacy trust.

We need to be more careful in discussing patients and cases. We still need to be able to discuss difficult or unusual cases, but this can be done without breaking a patient’s trust or privacy. Names and identifiers don’t have to be used when stumped by a rash or odd presentation.

Dr Holland had no malicious intent, just curiosity. Be careful.

Arkansas Democrat Gazette article Doctor, ex-hospital employees charged over Pressly records (subscription required) written by Linda Satter

3 charged with getting TV anchor's medical records by Jon Gambrell (no subscription required)