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To: dman4384
How can disclosure of patient info to the patient be a violation under HIPAA?

HIPAA can get very complicated, but my guess is her lawyers are going to make the argument that at least some of the people with access to those comments do not qualify as "medical personnel" under HIPAA regulations (like, say, someone that just runs the cash register). There may also be rules about people "adding information to medical charts" when they don't have the education or the licenses to do so.

In any case, writing "CrAzY!" on someone's record makes Walgreen's look like a bunch of complete sleazebags, whether any laws were broken or not. If the suits at corporate HQ have any brains, they'll settle this suit real fast and immediately clamp down on the use of such "note" fields for any nonessential employee comments.

126 posted on 03/08/2006 6:54:07 PM PST by Dont Mention the War (This tagline is false.)
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To: Dont Mention the War
In any case, writing "CrAzY!" on someone's record makes Walgreen's look like a bunch of complete sleazebags

It was certainly a stupid thing to do from a business perspective. Walgreens should fire the pharmacist or pharmacist tech involved and do something really nice for the woman who complained.

But on the facts presented, this shouldn't be a basis for expanding the power of trial attorneys by inventing a new victim class and harms based on mere rudeness and hurt feelings. If that becomes a new tort, a dozen new lawsuits a day could be generated from the occasional flame wars at FR alone.

131 posted on 03/08/2006 7:20:20 PM PST by JCEccles
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