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View Full Version : Can I sue the school phycholigist for disclosing my personal mentahealth information


darleneb
Jan 30, 2014, 10:05 PM
On an assessment . Isn't that a hippa violation. My exhusbanb gave a medical record that had information about my mental health that was incomplete and the school phycholigist disclosed it on an assessment form provided to other teachers and therapist that work with my son when I asked her to meet with me and discuss the matter she had a case manager in the room with her and pulled my son's medical record and discussed my persons mental health information in front of this other person I asked specifically to discuss this with her didthey violate my hipp rights and they gave acopy to my ex who will use thi in court against me

J_9
Jan 30, 2014, 10:10 PM
Your post is very hard to understand. Let me see if I got this right...

You have mental health issues. Your ex husband revealed that to the school psychologist when dealing with your son. Correct so far?

No, that is not a HIPAA, not hippa, violation. Think of HIPAA as doctor/patient privilege. It has to do with your health care providers sharing your protected health information with people who are not involved in your care.

In this case, if this is the case, your mental health records may be very important to the well being of your child. It may also tell the school psychologist why your child may be acting the way he/she does.

J_9
Jan 30, 2014, 10:13 PM
I would like to add that you can't sue for monetary damages on HIPAA. You can file a complaint that will be researched. If HIPAA was violated, and in this case it wasn't, the violating person may be fired or fined.

Fr_Chuck
Jan 30, 2014, 10:32 PM
You can of course file a complaint. But it does not appear they were treating you, but your child was under review. And they discussed this with teachers (most likely in doing a plan for education, which is allowed)

Your medical information came from your exhusband, not the doctor.

I see no violation

ScottGem
Jan 31, 2014, 05:37 AM
As noted, HIPAA rights are not subject to lawsuits. You cannot sue someone over violation of HIPAA rules. Any reported violation of those rules is investigated and if the violation is confirmed it could result in fines or even loss of license.

Second, I don't see any violation here. The only possible place of violation is in how your ex got the records. If he got them from your medical provider without permission, that would be a violation. But if he got them he cannot violate HIPAA by passing them on. And since the school psychologist wasn't treating you, there is no violation there.

I agree with what J_9 said. This was potentially information the school needed to deal with your son and you should have provided it for the benefit of your son.

joypulv
Jan 31, 2014, 05:53 AM
Aside from HIPAA, I find the legal question of the ex obtaining information about the mother from records about the son an interesting one. I have a feeling, however, that divorced parents don't have an expectation of privacy on records about shared children.

I worked for an insurance co years ago that was sued when a background check on a married man done in person revealed to the wife that her husband had been married before, something he had kept from her. He won. Different situation, but it certainly is food for thought.

AK lawyer
Jan 31, 2014, 08:28 AM
My exhusbanb gave a medical record ... and they gave acopy to my ex who will use thi in court against me

So the ex gave the record to the school psychologist, who gave it to someone else, who then gave it back to the ex? What (in the infamously immortal words of HRC) difference does it make? The ex already had the information.

And, by the way, if the ex believes the information is pertinent, he can institute discovery and get it anyway.