I had my pharmacy disclose my prescription information to my supervisor. What is the statue of limitations to file a claim against the pharmacy and my former employer? The violation occured in 9-06.

froggy7

Just to play devil's advocate... it sounds to me, from puglover's second description of the event, that her boss, who happens to be a medical clinic, was following up on information that an employee might have been involved in an illegal action (calling in a false prescription). It turns out that the employee wasn't (although I found the description of exactly what was going on slightly confusing, and am not sure whether it was entirely kosher with the insurance company, but that's a different issue), but doesn't a medical clinic have a duty to ensure that prescriptions called in from it are actually valid? Just wondering if that would change the laws that apply in this case.

puglover70

I live in Walls, MS and work in Memphis, TN. I was only with the company since 7-24-06. I am not wanting to pursue anything on the termination. After the HIPPA complaint to the HR dept. My supervisor could not even act cordial to me. I am glad not to working there anylonger and had been working on finding other employment. I had an offer at the company I worked previously. I was working the next day after being terminated.

bushg

I would let hippa handle the first case, that is what they are for , the second case Terminating you because you were in ICU, the agency that inforce the Family Medical Act wil get you a lawyer for this, also let them know about your 1st set of troubles with your former employers, sometimes it can be resolved with out going to court,. Now this group is like any other it depends on who answers the phone. My husbands case his mother was in ICU and they fired him.that year he had also came down with a serious stomach problem that requires life long treatment, so they were not happy about that either..I was told by everyone we did not have a case...I am not one to give up...I spent days calling attonerys, burea of workers comp...etc and finally found and called the Family Medical Leave Act In my phone book...the first one I spoke to told me we did not have a case...but from my interperation of the law I knew we did , rather than argue with her I made sure to write her name down and waited and called back I got a man this time and explained the situation to him. He called my husband's employers and the negotiations began, they gave him his back pay, his vacation time (they had refused to pay him) a raise that he was due and wrote a letter and signed that they had amiss in firing him. we did not ask for mental compensation only what was due him in the weeks they had fired him. he is still working there and it has been almost ten years since that happened, yes they messed with him, stole his tools which they replaced rather quickly , and would send him on job sites that would be finished and no one there, layed him off at christmas, change his hours etc.., those matters were dealt with via fax everytime they did something stupid. This man had our backs and stuck by us. He let them know that this group still had lawyers and any type of further harrassment would get them a court date and a law suit. This company employeed over 700 people. You would have thought they would have know better! If you feel like you have beed violated and your up to the challange don't give up. good luck

LadyB

That was my first thought. HIPAA aside I think it's illegal to terminate you for being ill.

J_9

Small world. I live very close to Memphis, about 40 miles north actually.

Now, seeing that you only worked there less than 3 months I am not so sure anything can be done about FMLA. Usually you must be employed for more than 3 months for any kind of benefit to kick in. Also, Tennessee is a work at will state, so they were able to terminate you for any reason.

What you need to do, and I can't remember if I read you did it or not, so please forgive me if I am repeating myself. Is contact your licensing bureau and report the doctor and the pharmacy. I have heard numerous complaints about your particular pharmacy and HIPAA violations, so I am glad you moved to a different pharmacy.

bushg

j9 you are correct. you have to be employed for 12 months prior to the leave also there has to be 50 employees with a 75 mile radius of the office and no tennesse is not exempt. It is a federal law. whomever has questions regarding their state can call their local office Wage and Hour divison listed in the government section of the phone book. There is also a website for Family Medical leave act that can be googled. It would be nice if no one ever had to use it.

ScottGem

I think froggy has a valid point here. If I understand this correctly, you were overheard calling in a prescription from a medical clinic. The clinic may very well have been justified in investigating this.

However, whether or not a HIPPA violation occured the purpose of a lawsuit is two fold. Most importantly its to provide compensation for a loss due to negligence. The problem here is I don't see where you have suffered any loss. The second reason is to provide punishment to the negligent party. But that would be the province of the HIPPA enforcement.

So I don't see that you have any grounds for a lawsuit.

froggy7

Actually, it is illegal to treat a short term disability differently from other other grounds when firing people. For example, if a company has a policy of firing anyone who misses more than three days in their 90 day grace period for any reason, it is perfectly legal for them to fire you if you miss more than three days because of illness, pregnancy, taking care of sick kids, etc. Or, as I have seen it put once, you don't lose rights when you are ill, but you also do not gain any special protections if you are, either.

Also, while they can't fire you for being ill, in most cases people are employees at will, and the company can fire you for no reason. It's a fine line to walk between doing that and firing someone because they are ill.

Personally, I can see both sides of the situation. I've had to go out on short-term disability, and was very glad that they couldn't just fire me and (most importantly) cut off my benefits. But I've also had to work in a department where someone was out on leave, and it's disruptive and difficult on the rest of the department to have to juggle someone else's work on top of their own.

puglover70

Ok, I would like to state one more time that I have no concern for doing anything about being fired. I was already looking for other employment. I am glad to not be working for UT medical group any longer. I simply asked that if I wanted to pursue going after Walgreens because they gave out my personal information, what was the statute of limitations. Also, I have suffered. My life at work was hell, I had to change pharmacy's, and I didn't feel comfortable going to the doctor any longer. I had to change my OB/GYN that I had been going to for 7 yrs. I already suffer from anxiety and this situation has not helped. I am not searching for money, I just want to question why nothing will be done when my HIPPA has BEEN violated. I work in the medical field and everyone is sooooo worried about being HIPPA compliant. I have to ask what does it matter if no one wants to enforce it?

J_9

Oh, you worked at UT Medical Group. Well that explains it!!!

Sorry, we have a UTMG in my town north of Memphis and I refuse to go to them, or work for them when I graduate, because of some of their lax policies.

Now have you tried to contact Walgreens' Headquarters regarding your complaint?

Walgreen Headquarters Location
200 Wilmot Rd.
Deerfield, IL 60015 (Map)
Phone: 847-914-2500
Fax: 847-914-2804