Hospital Allegedly Leaks Woman’s Personal Info To Her Rapist, Leading To Second Attack

[NurseBlaq]

In her lawsuit, she says the man harassed her with graphic language for months after a hospital staff member told him that she had named him as an abuser.

A Missouri woman who sought treatment at a Kansas hospital after a violent sexual assault has filed a lawsuit against the hospital and one of its staffers, whom she says leaked her personal information to her attacker.

Her abuser then sexually assaulted her again, she says.

In the civil complaint, filed Wednesday in the U.S. District Court of Kansas, the woman’s attorneys said Atchison Hospital, located around an hour north of Kansas City, violated “its legal and ethical duty to act in the patient’s best interest” following the first attack in May 2017.

Although she gave her care providers the name of the man who allegedly attacked her, the woman instructed them not to divulge any of her information to third parties without consent, attorney Trevor Wohlford said in the complaint.

An X-ray technician, Janet Rawson Enzbrenner, was nevertheless able to access the woman’s file and contact the alleged assaulter to let him know he was being accused of a crime, according to the suit.

Enzbrenner also alerted the man to “intimate facts relating to Plaintiff’s private life that was not at that time known in the community, contained in a public record, or otherwise available to the public,” Wohlford wrote, claiming Atchison stored the woman’s records in an unsecured manner.

An apology letter to the woman from Atchison CEO John Jacobson contained in the filing appears to confirm that her information was leaked.

The woman says that she was then “relentlessly harassed” by her alleged attacker via graphic text messages, social media messages and phone calls. Enzbrenner also repeatedly harassed her by phone and text, she says.

Around six months after the initial assault, the woman says she was raped a second time by the same man in November 2017.

On Friday, a representative for the Atchison County Attorney told NBC News that prosecutors were aware of the alleged assaults but did not plan on filing charges, without explaining further.

Atchison fired Enzbrenner four months after the woman first came in for treatment following her complaints and an internal investigation, but another Kansas hospital, St. Luke’s Cushing, hired her shortly thereafter. In a statement to NBC, Jacobson said the hospital took quick action to terminate Enzbrenner and was “deeply disturbed” by the allegations.

The woman is requesting a trial by jury and seeks maximum punitive damages.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/woman-says-hospital-leaked-personal-info-to-her-abuser-who-attacked-again_n_5cd70af6e4b054da4e8a5391

[Christy1019, ASN, RN]

How awful! I hope this person serves time for this. What in the world were they thinking???

[KCMnurse, BSN, MSN, RN]

What a complete mess! This poor woman deserves to own the medical facility that she entrusted with her care and personal information. Jail time is in order for a couple of people if this description of events is accurate.

[NurseBlaq]

Not only is it a travesty she was sexually assaulted a second time, there was a woman harassing her and feeding her attacker information. I'm livid for her!

[Forest2]

On 5/12/2019 at 9:42 PM, NurseBlaq said:

In her lawsuit, she says the man harassed her with graphic language for months after a hospital staff member told him that she had named him as an abuser.

A Missouri woman who sought treatment at a Kansas hospital after a violent sexual assault has filed a lawsuit against the hospital and one of its staffers, whom she says leaked her personal information to her attacker.

Her abuser then sexually assaulted her again, she says.

In the civil complaint, filed Wednesday in the U.S. District Court of Kansas, the woman’s attorneys said Atchison Hospital, located around an hour north of Kansas City, violated “its legal and ethical duty to act in the patient’s best interest” following the first attack in May 2017.

Although she gave her care providers the name of the man who allegedly attacked her, the woman instructed them not to divulge any of her information to third parties without consent, attorney Trevor Wohlford said in the complaint.

An X-ray technician, Janet Rawson Enzbrenner, was nevertheless able to access the woman’s file and contact the alleged assaulter to let him know he was being accused of a crime, according to the suit.

Enzbrenner also alerted the man to “intimate facts relating to Plaintiff’s private life that was not at that time known in the community, contained in a public record, or otherwise available to the public,” Wohlford wrote, claiming Atchison stored the woman’s records in an unsecured manner.

An apology letter to the woman from Atchison CEO John Jacobson contained in the filing appears to confirm that her information was leaked.

The woman says that she was then “relentlessly harassed” by her alleged attacker via graphic text messages, social media messages and phone calls. Enzbrenner also repeatedly harassed her by phone and text, she says.

Around six months after the initial assault, the woman says she was raped a second time by the same man in November 2017.

On Friday, a representative for the Atchison County Attorney told NBC News that prosecutors were aware of the alleged assaults but did not plan on filing charges, without explaining further.

Atchison fired Enzbrenner four months after the woman first came in for treatment following her complaints and an internal investigation, but another Kansas hospital, St. Luke’s Cushing, hired her shortly thereafter. In a statement to NBC, Jacobson said the hospital took quick action to terminate Enzbrenner and was “deeply disturbed” by the allegations.

The woman is requesting a trial by jury and seeks maximum punitive damages.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/woman-says-hospital-leaked-personal-info-to-her-abuser-who-attacked-again_n_5cd70af6e4b054da4e8a5391

An xray tech told her sister, a nurse, that another nurse that worked with her had an exam, the sister nurse asked the examined nurse why she had it done and hoped that it was OK. I would have turned in the xray tech, you can't go around telling relatives who you work on and what you are doing to them.. Geesh and gasp.

[CourtneyO.RN, BSN, RN]

Anyone who's been in healthcare in recent memory knows about HIPAA. How is this a thing?

This lady deserves everything she's suing for. Completely avoidable.