Horrible breach of personal confidentiality!

Nurses General Nursing

Published

A friend of mine knew that I had some bloodwork done. She called her friend that works at the lab and had her check her databases for my results. I am outraged and feel so personally violated. Not to mention that it is so illegal. The problem is, if i were to take any action I would be alienating a friend that has a lot of issues going on- possibly severe mental illness. There is no telling what she is capable of if I upset her. She has made suicidal threats in the past....she would be the type to go out of my way to make my life hell if I did anything. But i am so angry about this and feel no one should have access to my personal information without my consent, and that something should be done. I need advice on what to do without facing repercussions!

Specializes in Case Mgmt; Mat/Child, Critical Care.

Wow! What an ordeal! I would be soooo angry as well!

However, I guess I'm missing something here, are there 2 friends...a "friend" who called the lab, and yet a 2nd "friend" who gave out the info?

I'm not sure why you would even bother asking the lab "friend" out for coffee....his/her violation needs to be reported immediately. As for the so-called friend who placed the call in the 1st place...how is it that she can "look at your info any time....even in the future"...? This is all a little confusing. I know you're upset, and it's true you sound almost afraid of this "friend". What is the worst she could possibly do? Are you afraid of physical harm to yourself/child? If so, I would seek legal help/restraining order type of thing. I would not put up with this for one minute! Make sure you are not giving her any more "power" than it seems you have. Do not allow yourself to be a victim.... The only way to stop this is to stand up to her now, and do what you need to do for the good of yourself and your own!

Personally, I don't see any need for quietly backing down/out of the friendship...I would outright state the obvious and make it very clear that you will have nothing to do w/her in the future. Whatever "mental" problems she has...well, that's her problem, and it sounds like she's very clever at manipulating and intimidating you. Do not stand for it! :angryfire

Good luck, keep us posted. :)

Thank you for everyone's responses. I am still very upset by this and deciding what to do. I have never heard of HIPPA, perhaps because I live in Canada. But I am sure we must have some sort of privacy law as well that regulates this. I do want to report the lab person and her, but again, fear repercussions. I wrote an e-mail to this person asking her what she thinks I should now do and explaining that I am hurt and upset because I trusted her and she broke that trust in a terrible way. She did not respond. So I have some decisions to make on how far to go and how far I will let this affect my life. But, I do know I cannot just let this go completely because she can now look at my info at any time!! Even in the future. So, something must be done. Perhaps calling this lab 'friend' and asking hher to coffee and explaining how much this has affected me and threatening that if she ever does it to anyone I will sue her and get her fired, etc etc will end this. Do you think? Is that just foolish and wishful thinking?

Sigh.......cannot believe after 3 days I am still just as upset as when I first found out.:angryfire

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If she'll do that to you, no telling what else she'll do. I say report it!:angryfire

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I will help clarify. I have one friend , or supposed friend, which is the woman that called the lab. The person in the lab is a good friend of HERS, not mine, and the one that gave out the info. I am concerned that if she could access my lab data results once, than what is to stop her from doing it again in the future! The way it works in this city is all the labs are under one umbrella. It is a huge computer database that has all previous bloodwork/labwork ever done, etc. It could be accessed at any time and that is nobody's F**king business!!! I have nothing to hide, but that is my choice, to reveal that or not. I don't like having that right stripped away from me.

I am almost kind of afraid of this "friend". She has severe mental illness and I do not know what she is capable of, whether it be personal harm, or harm to my child or telling lies to my place of work/school or.....who knows. Obviously someone that would do this to a friend in the 1st place is not right in the head! Nevertheless, this friendship is so OVER and I will not stand for this. I will report it and just hope that this doesn't turn into some big chaotic thing in my life. Goodness knows I am busy enough!

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I do not know Canadian Law. I can not imagine that Canada does not have some kind of laws in place to protect private medical information.

The fault is not as much with your friend as with the lab. It would seem that they have a responsibility to protect your privacy. If not legally at least ethically.

This should be reported to the person who heads the labatory. You need to educate yourself on privacy laws in your country and provence.

If you fear retaliation from your so called friend then you might need to consult an attorney early on before you feel any repercussions.

Confronting her or the lab person who released the record is not wise. Please, don't.

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I'm not sure which part of Canada you are from - but in Ontario the patient has a right to privacy and violating that privacy is grounds for dismissal. No, we don't have HIPPA but every hospital has confidentiality agreements and everyone who works in the hospital (with the exception of dietary, engineering, and housekeeping) is bound by those agreements... even those who work in the lab. The ladies and gentlemen who work in the lab at the hospital I am at, make sure that they only report BS to the nurse ASSIGNED to that particular patient, not even to other nurses on the floor so I could never imagine them giving information to a friend about someone else! That's horrible. Call the lab and ask to speak to a supervisor, report the incident, there should nothing further required by them of you. Good luck.

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Specializes in Nephrology, Cardiology, ER, ICU.

I would contact the head of the lab, the patient relations office and the CEO - courtesy copy everything...needless to say I would get another friend after letting this one know what she did was WRONG! It doesn't matter what she does after you break off this relationship - that is her business. Good luck, and so sorry this happened.

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Every province in Canada provides patients the right to confidentiality. At most hospitals they even keep track of who looks up what. I have to enter my personal code to look up lab values and I would be in trouble if I was looking around at records for patients I wasn't looking after.

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if you are truly afraid of this person, I would go to a lawyer directly first and tell him/her. Document things clearly while it is fresh in your head. Let an attorney deal with this. Your rights have been violated and you may have a suit against the facility as well as the people involved.Be careful....sounds like you need to distance from this toxic 'friend' immediately and document what has occurred...maybe even get a restraining order if you are that afraid.

You have been wronged here...your medical records are YOUR business and these people had no right doing this to you. Get mad and do something about it is my advice.

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Agree with this answer. HIPPA violation of the first order. Get a lawyer.

Can you say HIPPA violation. Personally id consult my lawyer.

Rj

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