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Private Medical Records Found In Garbage Sent To TV Station

By Eddie Farah

We might never have known this happened, except some decided to send the medical records they found in the garbage to First Coast News, the NBC/ABC affiliate in Jacksonville.

What they found were pages upon pages of un-shredded medical documents from pediatric and adolescent psychiatrist, Dr. Angali Pathak’s office. I

In all, the records of 37 patients ended up in the newsroom along with names, prescription information addresses, social security numbers, phone numbers, and birth dates - basically anything someone would need to steal your identity or to find out your most personal secrets.

These records are supposed to remain private. One patient told the news station, “They ended up at your news station, to you, and they could have ended up anywhere.”

The doctor’s office told First Coast News that sometimes the shredder gets clogged, but they have no idea how the documents escaped the office intact.

Privacy laws have been broken and this represents an abuse of privacy on the part of the doctor and staff members who are supposed to be professionals.

HIPAA standards require that documents containing personal information be shredded. The requirements were set up to protect patients against any identity and information theft and their right to privacy.

HIPAA stands for Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. Enacted in 1996, HIPAA was designed to protect consumers so they do not lose insurance coverage when they change jobs and to reduce health care costs through standardized electronic transmission of transactions.

A HIPAA violation can carry fines of up to $250,000 and jail time of up to 10 years.

Privacy was a priority of HIPAA and you don’t want to mess with federal law by this type of violation.

It remains to be seen what will happen, but this sort of news probably has every doctor's office in Jacksonville sharpening their shredders or buying new ones. Thankfully, someone was smart enough to send these private records to a place where the information could be used in a helpful and not exploitative way. #

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Eddie Farah

Full post as published by Jacksonville Personal Injury Lawyer on December 31, 2008 (boomark / email).