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HI: Woman Posted Online HIV Patient Record

Posted on June 10, 2009 by Dissent

A young mother has been sent to jail for stealing confidential medical records from work then posting that information online for the world to see. The records belong to a woman living with HIV. The defense asked for no jail time, while the prosecutor wanted a month behind bars. But the judge said the crime was so egregious he handed down a sentence harsher than what both attorneys asked for.

“When I said personal information, it is information that is private. It should not have been revealed,” said judge Randy Lee. He gave a stern scolding to Rhonda Wong-Fernandez before sentencing her to a year behind bars.

“We are not talking about someone talking stink about someone,” Judge Lee said, “we are talking about something very sacred to someone.”

The 22-year-old committed her crime at Straub Clinic in 2007 where she worked as a clerical assistant. There she found out a woman she had a dispute with had HIV. But instead of keeping it a secret, she accessed her medical records and then spread the private information on MySpace.

Read more on KGMB.

I think this is the first sentencing of this kind that I can remember seeing. Can anyone think of any other cases like this?

Category: Health Data

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