re: Would you consider this to be a patient privacy violation

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Yes it's a violation. Contact the state medical licensing board and lodge a complaint. It's stupid of the doctor to do this and his license deserves a hit for it.


Thank you so much tigerpimpbot

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This won't do you much good. The enforcement body for violations of the HIPAA Privacy Rule is the HHS Office of Civil Rights. To file a complaint, start here..

If the doctor accessed your friend's information on a terminal at around the time he made the comment, the information, including his login and all the keystrokes, should be accessible from the computer audit trail for your friend's records. There's may be not need for any "he said/she said" nonsense. The audit trail will either show his access to the records or not.

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So chew the doctor out and be done with it. Money isn't going to fix what already happened.

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agreed, i wouldnt even think of trying to sue someone over shite like this.

i was responding to the question of "Why is your friend blaming the doctor"

the doctor is absolutely to be blamed for a frick up and should be reported

The question wasn't "why blame the doctor". The question was why is all the blame for her heartache falling on the doctor. I get that he violated an agreement, but the posts imply that they are just out for a buck. That's all I'm getting at.

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Actually, I just received an email from the friend this happened to. She has a lawyer taking her case. According to her, the lawyer said mil doc royally screwed up. Her husband is extremely upset and is coming home early from China.


You can find a lawyer to take any case these days...

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This is funny, because I don't recall HIPPA having a private cause of action, which would mean you can't sue under HIPPA for violations of HIPPA.

Maybe there is some state-law predicate, or they intend to use the federal regs as the source of a duty under state law?

Otherwise, gal is making this up to appear smarter than the other posters in this thread.

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What your friend is most upset about is the fact that the information got out to others VIA the MOTHER IN LAW.

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It's pretty petty and shitty for a doctor to drop a comment like that with out any reason to. If it happen as I'm picturing in my head, it was out of spite. It doesn't matter if one single person is given that privileged information when they weren't supposed to, it's wrong. They're really isn't much of a financial price tag in my opinion and I don't think there should be punitive damages, but I think that doctor should get his arse knocked down a peg or two.

You place a lot of faith in doctors by allowing them to know your personal information. They have no right to use it as a "gotcha" if there is a disagreement. Screw that guy. Screw the mother in law too, but that's just gossip. This is a whole 'nother lever of shitty.

Yes, what the Doctor did is a violation of privacy. How this Doctor obtained the information is a problem also. If he/she is not your caregiver and accessed your electronic records, this would also be a violation. If your Doctor discussed your case with the offending Doctor, it may or may not be a violation of privacy, depending on the reason ( may have been a consult situation).

You should speak directly with your Doctor to find out why the other Doctor had your private healthcare information.

If HIPAA found the Doctors/company in violation there would be a hefty fine.

Why should the MIL's doctor be liable for God not wanting your friend to have kids?

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Could you sue under HIPAA, instead?

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I admit it, you got me. My opinion is no longer of value.

For some reason I had it confused in my head with the PPACA.

I was thinking Health Insurance Patient Protection Act.

The minute you called me out on it, I realized my error.

My opinion from above still stands