If you have heard of HIPAA, you might be familiar with the federal law requirement that personal health information be protected from public disclosure.
And too, you may be familiar with stories in the news about people’s private health information being revealed without their permission.
How does personal, private health information get disclosed without the permission of the patient? Typically, it happens because there has been some sort of breach of a hospital’s privacy and security system.
While HIPAA itself does not provide a private cause of action for a medical provider’s breach of a patient’s right to have their medical records confidentially preserved, many state laws provide an avenue for patients harmed by a breach to recover damages.
Is privacy cases, it is oftentimes essential to tie the security breach to a systemic failure on the part of the medical provider to maintain a patient’s security. A “rogue employee” who improperly releases a patient’s private health information will oftentimes allow the employer of the “rogue employee” to escape liability unless the employer can be shown to have inadequate systems in place to prevent a breach of patient security.
In many of these cases, the private sexual history of a patient is disclosed, causing the patient to suffer embarrassment, humiliation, and ridicule.
At Rob King and Associates, Trial Lawyers, we have experience in representing people whose private health information has been wrongfully disclosed. We have successfully fought for these patients and already to bring our experience to bear for you! If you have had your private health information and properly disclosed, call me, Rob King, at (317) 916-0000 today to discuss your case!