I worked for a hospital in a responsible position for 6 years. During this time I had to review many charts as part of my position. In the past few weeks, my mother was in the ICU. My entire family felt that we were not getting the whole picture. Yes, I did it. I yielded to temptation and read my mother's chart. Another family member slipped and said something to our wicked step-sister that she didn't already know and she put two and two together and turned me in (my step father has mom's power of attorney). I had a spotless record, but of course, I was terminated at once. I knew this was a risk but took it anyway and I lost. I will learn from this and go on. What I need to now is-am I now on some kind of national registry? Am I banned from ever working in healthcare related fields again? I am just trying to recover from losing my job and trying to pick up the pieces while still trying to help my family deal with the fact that our mother has a catastrophic brain injury. I need to figure out what my career options are from this point forward. I had never been tempted before and doubt I would be again but I'm sure I'm not the only person who has ever yielded to temptation on this matter when it was their loved one laying there. :(

I honestly do not know the answer but there is a free legal forum you can register on and ask about HIPAA violations and such:
Is giving out my home address a Hipaa Violation? - FreeAdvice Forums (http://forum.freeadvice.com/showthread.php?t=370142)

Perhaps J_9 will see your question and give you the best answer.

I don't believe there is a national registry, but there is one statewide. Has your license been suspended? Terminated?

Typically this is not an infraction that would permanently revoke your license, it all depends also on what your license was.

You can contact your state license registry to find out your status. If you provide me your state and your level of license I may be able to help you.

I may need some personal info, if I do, that can be discussed via PM so as to provide you anonymity.

First of all, I'm sorry to hear about your mother. I hope she gets all the best care and recovers. {{HUGS}}

I'm not sure about a national registry (doubt it), but perhaps this will help:
HHS - Office for Civil Rights - HIPAA (http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/hipaa/)
HIPAA.ORG (http://www.hipaa.org/)