Business
Kaiser employees caught snooping at medical records of octuplets' mom
NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted April 13, 2009
Kaiser Permanente Bellflower Medical Center has disciplined several employees for snooping at the medical records of the woman who, in January, gave birth to octuplets.
The hospital said it fired 15 hospital workers and took other disciplinary action against eight other workers from various departments who accessed Nadya Suleman's medical records without permission or authority. Hospital officials said it didn't appear any information had been leaked beyond what was already public knowledge. The breach was discovered through the hospital's network monitoring.
This is the first high-profile case for the Bellflower, Calif., facility since the state's new snooping laws went into effect Jan. 1. The new laws made way for penalties on hospitals that do not notify patients of breaches. The laws also open the door for patients to sue medical facilities when their records are inappropriately accessed, even if there are no damages. As of yet, no lawsuit has been filed against Kaiser Bellflower as a result of the snooping.
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2009/04/13/bibf0413.htm.