Sounds like a major HIPPA violation.
You can go to JAIL for that, news agency can get fined big bucks for that.
Shameless that someone would report what you told your doctor...
No, the "friend" is under no HIPAA limitation. HIPAA applies to medical practioners, hospitals, insurance companies, and the government - not to friends.
If you have a conversation with your doctor about your medical problems, and your friends are present, you're waiving doctor/patient confidentiality - which means the doctor could theoretically be forced to testify about what was discussed when those friends were present. BUT, the doctor is still bound by HIPAA - IOW he couldn't talk about it unless he was subpoenaed. The friends are bound by nothing. The 1A gives them license to repeat virtually any conversation they heard.