Author Beware: The Law-- HIPAA (3/3)

Today, I'm concluding my three-part series on the HIPAA law. I'm going to focus on how I've seen it violated in published works of fiction.

Situation 1: A hard-nosed journalist makes entry into the hospital and begins asking the staff about a current patient. One nurse pulls him aside and gives him the information. This is a clear violation of HIPAA. All media requests will go through the public relations office. For any information to be released, the patient needs to give their permission.

Situation 2: A nurse on duty calls her friend and notifies her that another victim involved in a crime spree that her sister was a victim of is an inpatient at her hospital. Again, unless that person has provided direct care to the patient or the patient gives their consent for the information to be released, the nurse is in violation of HIPAA. However, the author of this particular ms handled it well. At least she had the character divulge that she could get in "big trouble" if upper management found out what she'd done. Think back to Brittney Spears in part one of this series.

Situation 3: Small town high school mascot falls ill on the field during a football game and is rushed to the hospital. A paramedic takes him to the ER. When the paramedic's wife arrives, she inquires about his condition. The paramedic/husband tells her what the doctors found. Again, the wife is not providing direct medical care to the patient. This paramedic has violated the patient's HIPAA rights by divulging this information to his spouse. Now, I understand, in small towns-- this information may "leak out". A better way for the author to have handled this would have been to have the wife of the fallen mascot tell this woman what his diagnosis was. HIPAA doesn't apply to family members and they can willingly share information with who they wish. That may not make the patient very happy--- ahh... another area of conflict!

Have you seen HIPAA violations in works of fiction that you've read?