Government
HIPAA privacy law nets first conviction
NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted Sept. 13, 2004
The first person has been convicted under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act's privacy provisions, which took effect in April 2003. Richard W. Gibson, 42, of SeaTac, Wash., was charged with identity theft and in August pleaded guilty to wrongful disclosure of individually identifiable health information for economic gain.
Gibson admitted that while he worked at Seattle Cancer Care Alliance he had used a patient's name, date of birth and Social Security number to get four credit cards in the patient's name, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Washington. He then used the cards to make more than $9,000 in purchases.
Gibson agreed to a 10- to 16-month prison term, to pay back the credit card companies, and to pay expenses that the patient incurred because Gibson used his identity.
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2004/09/13/gvbf0913.htm.
