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I would like to know know, how serious giving serious personal health information to I dont know how many had access to it before I found out about it. It was a medical facility that did this.I am very upset about it. I am a nurse and I take these things very seriously
Optional Information: Country relating to Question: United States State (if USA): Oklahoma Already Tried: Nothing ,I wanted to see what my options are. I tried to forget about it but the people that saw it are people I see everyday. It upset me terribly.
Hello, I will be happy to assist you with your question. Please note that I cannot provide legal advice – I can only give you information concerning the legal issues raised by your question. I DO NOT receive credit for my work until you rate my answer as OK service” or higher. Please DO NOT RATE MY ANSWER as "Bad service" or "Poor service" (or the 2 stars on the left if you see stars), as such a rating leaves negative feedback for me personally. Instead, if you feel one of those ratings would be appropriate, please reply to me via the REPLY or CONTINUE CONVERSATION button with the issue you have, and I will be happy to continue further and do everything I can to provide you with the service you seek.Your Answer:If protected health information was disclosed to parties that were not authorized to receive that information under HIPAA and the information disclosed was individually identifiable (you could discern who the patient was based on the information disclosed), then a HIPAA violation has occurred.The degree of any fine and/or whether criminal penalties might be involved depends on the disclosure and all the surrounding facts. They can be quite severe. Here is a chart that outlines the possibilities:http://www.calvet.ca.gov/Files/AboutUs/HIPAAViolationsEnforcement.pdf
As noted above, if you need clarification, please do let me know. And, again, I DO NOT receive credit for my work until you rate my answer as “OK service” or higher. Bonuses are always appreciated.If you later open a new question and would like my assistance, please begin the question with “To TMcJD….” This will ensure that only I answer the question. Thanks.
My name was on a drug test that was negative but I was having a extremely bad migraine and I tend to act strangly so it was reasonable suspicion and the doctor I was working that day was a fill in and not familiar with how I get when this occurs. The normal people I work with are familiar with it. I was taken to this medical lab and my DON gave them all of the information to send directly to her and they sent to an HR dept
where there are about 50 people they I am in direct contact with daily. It was brought to me opened by an HR rep who received it from someone who received it from someone and so on. I didnt have anything to hide but the medical facility didnt direct it to the right place or even label it correctly. How does this look now and if you were in my shoes what would you do?
First, you don't have a private cause of action for a HIPAA violation if a HIPAA violation did occur. Enforcement is by the federal government. You to the can report the incident as a violation to the department of health and human services. If HHS determines there was a violation, they will pursue fines and/or penalties.Second, there really is no strong law in Oklahoma that would let you sue them for disclosure of private information. You could make the argument that there is law that prevents such disclosure. However, in Oklahoma, to recover on that claim you would also need to prove damages. If you cannot show that this harmed you in some economic way, then you wouldn't be able to recover anything. (In Oklahoma, emotional distress and mental damages cannot be recovered unless caused intentionally or if they are attendant to a physical injury/harm).Thus, unfortunately, there's not much that you, personally, can do except to report the incident as a HIPAA violation to HHS.If you need additional clarification, please do let me know. And, again, I DO NOT receive credit for my work until you rate my answer as "OK service" or higher. Bonuses are always appreciated.If you later open a new question and would like my assistance, please begin the question with "To TMcJD...." This will ensure that only I answer the question. Thanks.
Experience: Legal Expert