Is it a HIPPA violation for a manager to send out a company wide email saying " Said employee is out of the office - his wife is in the hospital.

Please advise...

Generally no. I assume, that a) the company is not the one providing you with medical services, b) that you volunteered the info about why you would be out of the office and c) the reason she was in the hospital was not mentioned.

A HIPAA violation occurs when someone providing a person with medical care reveals info about that care to a third party without authorization. That doesn't appear to be the case here.

However, it was a breach of etiquette for the manager to do this.

Unless that manager is in the position of a health care provider, no this is not a HIPAA violation.

Now, is the office a small office or a large company? If it is a small office with only a few employees this can be considered a friendly notice so that the other employees know what is going on and can help out in his absence. If a large company it's just bad etiquette.

Many small companies inform employees of family illness so that friends and co workers can help out in said employees time of need. In the small law offices I have worked at it was a form of courtesy so that employees in the firms could take over the workload of the person out, and some of the secretaries would send food and offer to babysit or whatever the employee might need during a tough time.

Again, HIPAA covers medical personnel from giving out medical information to people or persons who are not involved with the care and/or treatment of a patient.

If someone comes up to you stating that another co-worker told her you got fired and/or was getting fired?? isn't that hippa violation?

It's a hopsital?