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nchiaro · Feb 27, 2008, 11:06 AM

Hello, I just recently found out, which I had suspected all along, that my ex-husband's new wife was accessing my medical records. She had access to these records because she works at the hospital that I was a patient at. She is an oncology nurse and has no reason to be accessing my records but for her own personal gain. Is she exempt from the Hippa Law because she works there?

Thanks for your response

this8384 · Feb 27, 2008, 11:29 AM

Can you prove that she accessed them? What is she profiting from learning your health history?

ScottGem · Feb 27, 2008, 11:32 AM

No, she has no right to access your records unless she is providing care for you. If you can prove she is doing it, that is a HIPAA violation and she would be fired.

nchiaro · Feb 27, 2008, 11:32 AM

Yes, my ex-husband just admitted to me that he thought I was "mentally" unable to care for my daughter and she gave him information about which doctors I was seeing at the hospital

nchiaro · Feb 27, 2008, 11:34 AM

If the system is computerized, would it show her "logged in" to my file?

ScottGem · Feb 27, 2008, 11:35 AM

That's not proof. He may have gotten that info from other sources. I would however, talk to the hospital administrator. While its not proof it is circumstantial. They may investigate or set a trap.

talaniman · Feb 27, 2008, 12:41 PM

I think bringing it to the attention of an administrator, is a good idea.

jp242 · Feb 27, 2008, 12:46 PM

I don't think I would so much worry about this being a HIPAA issue as an invasion of privacy and illegal access to your medical files by unauthorized personnel. Most likely the hospital has its own policies regarding personnel looking at medical files unrelated to a patient they are treating. I would contact a hospital administrator immediately and lodge a complaint. Also, I would talk to your attorney if you and your ex-husband are having issues regarding custody. Your attorney needs to know of this so s/he is not surprised with any possible information this woman has gathered.

As for if they would have a record of her viewing your record in the computer, I think that depends on what kind of records database it is. I know one of the ones we use for our discovery work has no kind of trail as to who has accessed it, but it has a trail when the person actually makes changes.

nchiaro · Feb 27, 2008, 03:04 PM

Originally Posted by jp242

I don't think I would so much worry about this being a HIPAA issue as an invasion of privacy and illegal access to your medical files by unauthorized personnel. Most likely the hospital has its own policies regarding personnel looking at medical files unrelated to a patient they are treating. I would contact a hospital administrator immediately and lodge a complaint. Also, I would talk to your attorney if you and your ex-husband are having issues regarding custody. Your attorney needs to know of this so s/he is not surprised with any possible information this woman has gathered.

As for if they would have a record of her viewing your record in the computer, I think that depends on what kind of records database it is. I know one of the ones we use for our discovery work has no kind of trail as to who has accessed it, but it has a trail when the person actually makes changes.

Thanks for all your feed back. As of today, she is now harassing me through the mail so Im just going to file a police report and contact the administrator.

Thanks again to everyone

ScottGem · Feb 27, 2008, 07:13 PM

Good luck and keep us posted.