Medical privacy violator gets 1 year- what do you think?

Nurses General Nursing

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I'm not sure if this was posted yet, but this was in the local news for Hawaii. I can't believe someone would do something that terrible to someone who is obviously already suffering.:nono:

My question to you nurses and nursing students is: Do you think the penalty was too harsh? Do you think the judge should have been lenient in her case because she is a breastfeeding mother? Please read and comment.

http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/20090610/NEWS01/906100389/-1/RSS02?source=rss_localnews

"A 22-year-old woman who had a part in the posting of an HIV victim's medical records on the Internet was sentenced to a year in prison yesterday."

I suck at html or that would have been italicized.

Edit: I should clarify: I don't think the penalty was too harsh.

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I don't think her sentence was too harsh. hopefully during her year of jail, 5 years of probation, and 200 hours of community service, she'll think about what HIPAA really means.

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It seems this violation was pretty egregious, though the article was rather short on facts.

If someone intends to cause harm to a Pt by stealing their medical records, then I think prison time is surely warranted.

For something less blatantly malignant, such as looking up Jack or Jill Celebrities records to "impress" your friends, I'm up in the air, but don't object to weekends in the slammer for a year or something.

The crux is that accessing medical records is theft.

As to the breastfeeding, every defendant has an excuse on why they're not responsible, why they shouldn't go to jail, etc.

As the saying goes: Don't do the crime if you can't do the time.:twocents:

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I don't think her sentence was too harsh. hopefully during her year of jail, 5 years of probation, and 200 hours of community service, she'll think about what HIPAA really means.

I agree with you. I do feel bad for her baby that will be motherless during important developmental points.

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It seems this violation was pretty egregious, though the article was rather short on facts.

If someone intends to cause harm to a Pt by stealing their medical records, then I think prison time is surely warranted.

For something less blatantly malignant, such as looking up Jack or Jill Celebrities records to "impress" your friends, I'm up in the air, but don't object to weekends in the slammer for a year or something.

The crux is that accessing medical records is theft.

As to the breastfeeding, every defendant has an excuse on why they're not responsible, why they shouldn't go to jail, etc.

As the saying goes: Don't do the crime if you can't do the time.:twocents:

I think it was blatantly malicious. She took the records from Straub, then gave them to someone else, who posted them on MySpace.

I'm glad she's getting punished. I'm not sure if this is the first time anyone has been sentenced in Hawaii for a privacy violation, but it serves the purpose of showing that HIPAA violations are taken very seriously.

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I think her sentence was fair

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I think if a person was accessing records to sell to the Enquirer I think a year would be reasonable, but out of pure curiosity or showing off that would be to harsh. Losing a license or a suspension would cover that. A firing or inability to get a job in the health care industry in the future is also punishment. The tax payers are already carrying heavy burden for incarcerating rapist and murders. I don't want to pay for something like this. I don't believe in punishing a person as a way of warning others. I never believed in making an example of a person as a justification for a harsh sentence. A person should be punished in a way that is appropriate for the crime they committed not as a warning to others.

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Specializes in mental health.

I am very sad for her baby's disrupted nourishment and attachment during this crucial time, because I am a strong advocate of extended breastfeeding and attachment parenting. However this is something she should have considered before deciding to post someone's medical records on the internet. After all, posting medical information on the internet is not exactly an accidental slip of the tongue, but a deliberate, calculated choice. We all know the consequences of violating HIPAA, so this is the life she chose for her baby. It's really too bad.

As for the taxpayer's burden - yes, we are already carrying a heavy burden to incarcerate many, such as people incarcerated for the use or sale of marijuana for medical use or as a result of zero tolerance laws.

And here are some other incarcerations that we've all been paying for for years: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/03/19/terror/main4877395.shtml

So I'd like to see all such incarcerations ended before we start excusing deliberate and malicious HIPAA violations.

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I think if a person was accessing records to sell to the Enquirer I think a year would be reasonable, but out of pure curiosity or showing off that would be to harsh. Losing a license or a suspension would cover that. A firing or inability to get a job in the health care industry in the future is also punishment. The tax payers are already carrying heavy burden for incarcerating rapist and murders. I don't want to pay for something like this. I don't believe in punishing a person as a way of warning others. I never believed in making an example of a person as a justification for a harsh sentence. A person should be punished in a way that is appropriate for the crime they committed not as a warning to others.

she did plead no contest to a Felony.....i would suspect it was done with malicious intent....not curiosity

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I posted this on another thread.

The sentence is fair. Everyone working around medical records knows about HIPAA and knows the consquences of violating it. Doesn't matter if you think you won't get caught. She did it, she got caught. Period. She should have thought about her baby before she did it.

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Specializes in Cardiac/Step-Down, MedSurg, LTC.

I think the sentence was fair. Seems like malicious intent. Though I do agree with Oramar, I don't think I'd want to pay for their mistake with my tax dollars.

One year, in the big picture, is not a lot.

To answer the OP, I don't think the judge should have been lenient based on the woman's breastfeeding choice, you'd open up a pandora's box by showing leniency in this situation.

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It's cases like this that have caused us nurses to have to sit through endless lectures on HIPAA, as well as the relentless continuing education on the topic! For that reason alone I think the violator should be forced to sit in an airless room and view a 1000 hour HIPAA powerpoint with 3 million slides and a multiple choice test that never ends... Wait a minute, we already have to do that!

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