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> “They tried to drag my start-up wine-and-spirits technology business into it … They posted my entire medical record, including notes about my mental health, m

> “They tried to drag my start-up wine-and-spirits technology business into it … They posted my entire medical record, including notes about my mental health, my bills, my insurance info, my driver’s license, birth date and home address,” she said. That screams HIPAA violation, to me. The practice could (and should) be shut down over it.

ceejayoz 8y ago
If it happened. The story is in a tabloid, and that's such an insanely egregious breach of HIPAA that I'm a little skeptical that it played out exactly like that.
- Fej 8y ago
  Perhaps not exactly. But of all the tabloids, the NY Post has to be one of the most reputable.
  - blanderman 8y ago
    I contend that all tabloids are disreputable.
    - RandallBrown 8y ago
      Well technically tabloids are just newspapers of a certain size.
      - droidist2 8y ago
        Right, there's a big difference between tabloids like The NY Post, "red tops" like The Sun, and supermarket tabloids like The National Enquirer.
        Fej 8y ago
        Exactly. Putting the Post in the same basket as the National Enquirer is an insult to Alexander Hamilton.
- confiscate 8y ago
  why do you blame the tabloid? The quote said "They posted my", so it looks likely that it was the woman who said it, no?
  - danso 8y ago
    It's the responsibility of the journalist to ask follow-up questions that are necessary to resolve these kinds of ambiguity.
  - ceejayoz 8y ago
    > why do you blame the tabloid? Because a common tabloid tactic is posting technically true statements in a misleading manner. For example, the woman's statement could apply to having introduced her medical records into the court transcripts, which would be entirely normal practice. The wording in the article leaves us thinking they uploaded her records and driver's license in a Yelp reply or something, but I think that's unlikely.
- fencepost 8y ago
  There's no HIPAA breach in the publishing of the article unless the information is being provided by a covered entity or business associate. Most notably, patients can disclose anything they desire about themselves.
  - ceejayoz 8y ago
    The patient claims the following in the article: > [The doctor's office] posted my entire medical record, including notes about my mental health, my bills, my insurance info, my driver’s license, birth date and home address.
snissn 8y ago
I'm curious if that is accurate or not. It hangs in a weird way in the article and doesn't indicate where the info was posted.
- Andrenid 8y ago
  Maybe she means all that info was exposed in the court case? That's exactly the sort of "true but out of context" thing a tabloid like this site would use.
  - indigodaddy 8y ago
    This is how I interpreted it, eg, that they released all the information in the court case.
- confiscate 8y ago
  even if this is not accurate and the woman exaggerated her claims, just look at all the comments in this post. She already got the effect she was looking for. People freak out the moment they hear privacy violation. They get angry and stop thinking. The comment above from AdmiralAsshat already says "the practice should be shut down". Some comments above say "it's an open and shut case" without even knowing the details of the proceedings. Can you imagine if as a doctor, you kept your patient's info private, but a patients says you "posted her medical record" even though it was sealed for her court proceedings? Wow
titanomachy 8y ago
Almost certainly the medical details were shared with the court, under seal, rather than posted to (for example) a public internet forum. At issue here is a disagreement over what services were performed, so it makes perfect sense that the court would require access to these documents. The reporting is incredibly one-sided here considering that the case is still unresolved. No doubt it will be damaging to the doctor's reputation even if he is cleared of wrongdoing.
- jessaustin 8y ago
  ...which is why he is an idiot, with an idiot lawyer, for poking this hornets' nest. I say that even if we stipulate that his medical performance was exemplary. You don't fight with disgruntled customers. Spend a couple of minutes to see if you can easily satisfy them, and then forget the whole mess. Recover any products they received, give them their money back, and write off the service you performed. Period.
  - danso 8y ago
    Perhaps this was not just a disgruntled customer. She's accused of posting multiple reviews that say allegedly libelous things. This was not, according to the complaint, a situation where someone just left a bad review.
    - jessaustin 8y ago
      So she is "super-disgruntled". If anything that makes fighting with her even more foolish. Most of these sites (certainly yelp and google) allow service providers to respond to reviews. Leave a single note, "We're sorry this patient wasn't satisfied with our service, and have refunded all fees. Since most of our patients are happy, we rarely need to do this." [0] Actually even that note is too confrontational, but maybe there has to be a sort of compromise between one's emotions and one's business. There's no way a patient with a complaint about fees gets a lawyer on contingency or a guest column in the paper if she already has been offered a refund. This is different than a malpractice injury case, which would need to be handled more carefully. (Although even in those cases, getting the patient to accept a refund is golden.) Still, the attorney from your malpractice insurer would also advise against this scorched-earth bullshit. This physician must be on a bare-bones malpractice plan, that his dipshit attorney hasn't already been banished by competent legal representation. [0] if the provider has to issue such refunds all the time, there are other problems to address...

ceejayoz 8y ago

If it happened. The story is in a tabloid, and that's such an insanely egregious breach of HIPAA that I'm a little skeptical that it played out exactly like that.

Fej 8y ago
Perhaps not exactly. But of all the tabloids, the NY Post has to be one of the most reputable.
- blanderman 8y ago
  I contend that all tabloids are disreputable.
  - RandallBrown 8y ago
    Well technically tabloids are just newspapers of a certain size.
    - droidist2 8y ago
      Right, there's a big difference between tabloids like The NY Post, "red tops" like The Sun, and supermarket tabloids like The National Enquirer.
      - Fej 8y ago
        Exactly. Putting the Post in the same basket as the National Enquirer is an insult to Alexander Hamilton.
confiscate 8y ago
why do you blame the tabloid? The quote said "They posted my", so it looks likely that it was the woman who said it, no?
- danso 8y ago
  It's the responsibility of the journalist to ask follow-up questions that are necessary to resolve these kinds of ambiguity.
- ceejayoz 8y ago
  > why do you blame the tabloid? Because a common tabloid tactic is posting technically true statements in a misleading manner. For example, the woman's statement could apply to having introduced her medical records into the court transcripts, which would be entirely normal practice. The wording in the article leaves us thinking they uploaded her records and driver's license in a Yelp reply or something, but I think that's unlikely.
fencepost 8y ago
There's no HIPAA breach in the publishing of the article unless the information is being provided by a covered entity or business associate. Most notably, patients can disclose anything they desire about themselves.
- ceejayoz 8y ago
  The patient claims the following in the article: > [The doctor's office] posted my entire medical record, including notes about my mental health, my bills, my insurance info, my driver’s license, birth date and home address.

snissn 8y ago

I'm curious if that is accurate or not. It hangs in a weird way in the article and doesn't indicate where the info was posted.

Andrenid 8y ago
Maybe she means all that info was exposed in the court case? That's exactly the sort of "true but out of context" thing a tabloid like this site would use.
- indigodaddy 8y ago
  This is how I interpreted it, eg, that they released all the information in the court case.
confiscate 8y ago
even if this is not accurate and the woman exaggerated her claims, just look at all the comments in this post. She already got the effect she was looking for. People freak out the moment they hear privacy violation. They get angry and stop thinking. The comment above from AdmiralAsshat already says "the practice should be shut down". Some comments above say "it's an open and shut case" without even knowing the details of the proceedings. Can you imagine if as a doctor, you kept your patient's info private, but a patients says you "posted her medical record" even though it was sealed for her court proceedings? Wow

titanomachy 8y ago

Almost certainly the medical details were shared with the court, under seal, rather than posted to (for example) a public internet forum. At issue here is a disagreement over what services were performed, so it makes perfect sense that the court would require access to these documents. The reporting is incredibly one-sided here considering that the case is still unresolved. No doubt it will be damaging to the doctor's reputation even if he is cleared of wrongdoing.

jessaustin 8y ago
...which is why he is an idiot, with an idiot lawyer, for poking this hornets' nest. I say that even if we stipulate that his medical performance was exemplary. You don't fight with disgruntled customers. Spend a couple of minutes to see if you can easily satisfy them, and then forget the whole mess. Recover any products they received, give them their money back, and write off the service you performed. Period.
- danso 8y ago
  Perhaps this was not just a disgruntled customer. She's accused of posting multiple reviews that say allegedly libelous things. This was not, according to the complaint, a situation where someone just left a bad review.
  - jessaustin 8y ago
    So she is "super-disgruntled". If anything that makes fighting with her even more foolish. Most of these sites (certainly yelp and google) allow service providers to respond to reviews. Leave a single note, "We're sorry this patient wasn't satisfied with our service, and have refunded all fees. Since most of our patients are happy, we rarely need to do this." [0] Actually even that note is too confrontational, but maybe there has to be a sort of compromise between one's emotions and one's business. There's no way a patient with a complaint about fees gets a lawyer on contingency or a guest column in the paper if she already has been offered a refund. This is different than a malpractice injury case, which would need to be handled more carefully. (Although even in those cases, getting the patient to accept a refund is golden.) Still, the attorney from your malpractice insurer would also advise against this scorched-earth bullshit. This physician must be on a bare-bones malpractice plan, that his dipshit attorney hasn't already been banished by competent legal representation. [0] if the provider has to issue such refunds all the time, there are other problems to address...