My sister who is a pharmacist is currently going through a divorce. Her soon to be ex-husband failed out of college and hasn't had a job in the 4 years they have been married. About 1 year ago he had a DVT (deep venous thrombosis) in his upper leg. (He was back to normal activities about 2-3 months later.) My sister asked his doctor that treated him for the DVT to write a statement saying that he doesn't have physical limitations that would stop him from working. (She was using this so he would have to get a job to help take care of himself and pay child support.). He now says that he is going to sue both my sister and the doctor due to HIPAA violations. Did she and/or the doctor violate HIPPA?
(fyi. He has also called her employer and the state pharmacy board to say that she violated HIPPA and complained about what a bad pharmacist she is due to violating HIPPA.)

It's a violation (whether she's a Pharmacist or not) if the Physician released his medical info without his written approval OR a subpoena. I don't see how she violated - she simply requested the info. Someone else provided it.

You don't sue individuals for HIPAA violations. That's not how it works.

Whether she's a "bad" Pharmacist is up to the State Licensing Board to decide.

(And it's HIPAA, not HIPPA.)

If they were married at the time, I think it would considered reasonable for the doctor to provide her with such info. A lot depends on the nature of the conversation.

For example:

Wife: Doc, can you tell me what you treated hubby for? And is he all better?
Doc: He had a DVT that is now cured.

That might be a HIPAA violation on the part of the doctor.

On the other hand:

Wife: Doc, is hubby's DVT all better now? Can you give me a letter to that affect?
Doc: Sure.

There would be no HIPAA violation there because the wife was aware of the diagnosis and was asking if its been cured, not what treatment he received.

The only way the wife might be cited for a HIPAA violation is if he had prescriptions filled at her pharamcy and she looked up his records.

As Judy pointed out, he can't sue over HIPAA, he can only report it so that sanctions could be taken against the violators. She should be reporting this to her divorce attorney who will take care of it.