I’m a medical worker. I know what a HIPAA violation is.
I’m saying I’m dubious that the investigation that required these documents was legitimate.
And I’m mad that Vanderbilt seemingly handed over the documents without fighting it in court.
@BlastBunny Yea it's a bit tricky I agree but I assume it's fine if lawyers are reviewing the information, but if I or you were to see it then it's violation.
@BlastBunny It's not unless the information becomes public.
It’s just waaay to convenient that conservatives in Tennessee are trying to erase Trans kids and magically come up with a criminal investigation that allows them unfettered access to all their medical records.
Nothing was seemingly kept confidential
They handed over everything
@BlastBunny Yea I'd have to really dig to find out if it's illegal or not.
@BlastBunny Just to be clear I'm not defending anyone just trying to see if there is an actual problem or not - the problem I have is folks not minding their business when it comes to other people and their personal lives.
10 bucks they use this investigation to try to shutter the gender care area of the hospital.
@BlastBunny Wouldn't put it past them.
The thing I’m wondering is they had to get an original complaint from a patient or their family.
And if that was the case why wasn’t the records request restricted to just that patient?
@BlastBunny Here's an article from Time. It's not a violation, but is scary.
https://time.com/6289609/vanderbilt-transgender-records-patients-backlash/
@BlastBunny It's shady as hell and clearly an intimidation tactic. I think the hospital should have fought it. The AG can't be given the benefit of the doubt that they were working in good faith.
Not even that government prosecutors need to justify all their requests.
And if Vanderbilt went to court to fight the records request they probably could have forced the prosecutors to narrow their search.
I don’t see any indication they did that
They seemingly just handed all of it over without court review if it was necessary.
@BlastBunny That's what I think happened. They got the request and complied.
They shouldn’t have
The hospital has a duty to make sure their patients especially their information is protected.
If a prosecutor comes looking for information you better be in court making sure it’s absolutely necessary.
@BlastBunny @WanderingDabbit
It looks like the difference depends on whether it's a "court order" signed by a judge, or a "subpoena" from an attorney. In this case, they probably did not have a choice.
https://www.hipaaguide.net/hipaa-subpoena-for-medical-records
Yeah, their patients feel betrayed and it's a terrible precedent.
@BlastBunny It sure is a blatant violation.
@BlastBunny Here's a little help on that. Read it and let me know what you think.https://www.strongdm.com/blog/hipaa-violation-examples