Employment: Center Not Guilty of Sex Discrimination in Terminating Employee for HIPAA Violation

December 13, 2017 | Strategic Insights for Health System

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A U.S. district court in Alabama granted summary judgment in favor of a medical center, dismissing a lawsuit brought by a radiology technician whom the facility fired for allegedly violating its Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) privacy policy.

The technician, who had worked at the center for more than 20 years, allowed her daughter and niece to enter the control room while a minor patient was in the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanner in the next room, without asking the patient's permission. The patient's images appeared on computer monitors in the control room, thus making her protected health information (PHI) visible to anyone in the control room. The three minor children went to the same school and recognized and spoke to one another. Meanwhile, the technician had told the patient's mother she could not come into the control room, claiming there was not enough space. The patient's mother filed a complaint with the facility administration the...

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