Hi folks,

My mom asked for my help on this matter so I told her I'd post here and see what our legal experts have to say...

As some of you may know, my father passed away in August of this year after a long battle with respiratory illnesses. The morning that he died, after staying overnight, we left the hospital to head home and prepare to make funeral arrangements. My mother specifically told the hospital staff that she wanted to keep the matter private until she'd had a little time to deal with it. She didn't want to get bombarded with questions from the extended family right away. She left explicit instructions that they were not to give out any info (including the fact that he'd died) because she wanted to make the calls personally. She was assured that even had she not made a specific request, they would not release anything about his condition or death to anyone; including other family.

After we went home and started making funeral arrangements, we started getting phone calls from his siblings out of town (within about 2 hrs of his death). They'd called the hospital and were told by the staff that he'd died that morning. Exactly what my mother didn't want began to happen; we received a barrage of rude, accusatory phone calls amidst our grief (they were pretty much upset that she didn't call right after he took his last breath).

So my question is does she have any legal recourse against the hospital for releasing the information? I was there when she told them she didn't want anything relayed to anyone else in the family yet. Even after 2 months it still bothers her (some of his family feels betrayed that she didn't call them right away). So she wants to know if there anything she can do?

Thank you

I don't know the law - I can tell you that this same thing happened to me when my husband died.

Family members called ICU to check on his condition and were told he had died the previous night (late at night), peacefully, after being taken off life support.

I actually discussed this with an Attorney who said the best that would happen is that it was a HIPAA violation (maybe, he said) and all it would do would be further upset me - and I believe he was right so I let it drop.

Offensive, yes, particularly the "life support" statement which, by the way, is true. Worth pursuing? Not in my case. I was having difficulty putting one foot in front of the other and saw no benefit. Maybe a complaint would have helped someone else avoid the situation but, as I said, I was in no shape...

Hello nk:

I did not know about your dad.. Sorry. Yes, it was a privacy violation, and it was rude... But, I don't think it rises to the level of a lawsuit... Firstly, there aren't any damages except for feelings, and hurt feelings are compensable..

If your mom wants to DO something, and I certainly would, I'd complain to the hospital administrator.. It probably won't do any good except make your mom feel better... That ain't bad.

excon