Question

Find an incident that occurred within the last three years where, as a result of the use of social media or electronic medical records or the internet in general, one of the privacy laws that is violated. (HIPAA)

Please summarize the incident, indicate the penalty imposed on the violator, and the harm on the victim.

Answer 1

HIPAA stands for health insurance Portability and accountability Act. This Act provides protection to the medical information, medical records etc of the patients. The doctors, health care organizations, hospitals etc are liable for the same and will have to face strict penalties, civil suits etc, if they breach the standards mentioned as per the HIPAA. An incident which reflects the breach of the HIPAA has been discussed as follows.

Mr. HZ was a cardiothoracic surgeon and Chinese immigrant who worked in Canada in a leading hospital. He used his influence to check and monitor UCLA medical records system illegally. Through this medical records maintained by the coworkers of the hospitals, several celebrities etc have been monitored by him. This is a breach of the HIPAA as Mr. HZ. Due to the breach of HIPAA the individual lost his job, had to face four months imprisonment and $2000 penalty. The harm includes the loss of privacy as the medical details were revealed. Since the medical reports of the celebrities were included in the medical records, they can claim for the privacy damage.