HIPPA/Stalking need help

[MentalFloss]

Greetings. I was recently terminated from a hospital based physician's practice for a HIPPA violation. I have had a "stalker" since mid August. I have been slowly building my file of documentation about her to proceed with legal action against her. Early on, she had alleged that she was pregnant with my boyfriend's child.

If you have ever been stalked you know how it effects the very core of your being. You trust no one, not even yourself. I knew I needed to start a document trail to end it all......but I was helpless.

Anyway, you guessed it, I looked at her hospital admission sheet to see if she was pregnant. I have NEVER denied this. She filed an ethics complaint with the hospital. When they asked me, I admitted it and told them what was going on and I was terminated.....much to my physician's chagrin.

Do I have any recourse here? Clearly I was set up. In addition, I looked at people's medical records that were not patients of mine, daily. If someone called and needed help, I would look to see how to help them....perhaps get to the physician they needed.

Any input you have will be greatly appreciated. I have as of today gotten enough documentation to file a cyber bullying police report. I have filed one other because my mailbox was mysteriously destroyed. And to answer the question before I am asked.....yes, I fear for my safety....I am hypervigilant, paranoid and down right scared to death.

Thanks all.

MentalFloss

 

[cbg]

No, sorry. You DID violate HIPAA (and it's HIPAA, not HIPPA) regardless of the reason and regardless of your belief that you were set up. You CHOSE to look at her record - no one forced you to do it.

There was nothing illegal about terming you and there is nothing in the law that is going to force them to hire you back.

You can, of course, take whatever measures you need to protect yourself. But your safety was not violated by her claim that she was pregnant. There was no legal justification for you to violate HIPAA for that.

 

[MentalFloss]

Thank you

Thanks for correcting my HIPAA.

Yes I violated it, I said why. The threat to my safety was already there, I just did not include that part.
Thanks for your input.

Be well.

 

[PJ_Weber]

Nobody set you up, you did this on your own

What have the Police said regarding anything
you can do with this issue

 

[MentalFloss]

Clarification

To respond to you, my first report to the police netted me nothing except a police report. However, now I have an actual threat from her and I am in the process of filing a "good behavior" warrant against her (although many stalking websites advise against this). It is a slow process because my bf has been talking to his human resources representative at work about it, because he is afraid she will make some allegation about him.

Now to clarify, I know what I did was wrong people. I have admitted it from the beginning and I am accepting the consequences. My first issue is when one is a victim of a stalker they are under mental and emotional duress.....I am not making excuses for my actions but I am stating a fact. I have become paranoid, hyper vigilant and down right scared. My second point is that HIPAA is NOT black and white. For example, I was going into people's medical records on a daily basis that were not patients of my physicians due to the nature of my doctor's work and the way the hospital handled or actually did not handle things. I could go into much detail explaining this.......so technically I violated HIPAA everyday. And so does/did my staff. I just know this is NOT black and white from my own experience. I know those who did not do my job will not understand this and will see it is the law says no access so it means no access.

Thanks for your input anyway, this has been interesting, to say the least.

 

[cbg]

There is a difference between accessing someone else's medical records as an element of your job, and accessing them for a personal reason. I'm sorry you're unable to see the difference.

 

[MentalFloss]

Thanks again

Sorry, I see the difference.....sorry you cannot my point. Look at it like someone with Stockholm Syndrome. You probably do not look at that as something someone actually experiences though either, do you?

 

[cbg]

You can debate the point as long as you like.

However, it is not going to change the fact that your termination was legal. The law does not say, It's illegal to fire you as long as you had a justifiable reason to violate the policy. The law does not say, if you're suffering from emotional stress it's okay to violate HIPAA and you can't be fired for it.

You can attempt to justify your actions all you want but it isn't going to change the legality of your termination. And I'm sorry, if your intent here is to convince us how justified you were in doing what you did, you're on the wrong message board.

I'm sorry for your troubles. Your legal position does not change.