Hospital fined over privacy breaches in days after deaths of Jackson, Fawcett

Molly Hennessy-Fiske of the L. A. Times provides additional details on one of the fines levied on hospitals in California over breaches:

Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center has been fined $95,000 by state officials for failing to prevent unauthorized employees from accessing patient information, the latest in a series of privacy breaches at the prestigious hospital that has struggled to protect the medical information of its celebrity patients.

The fine, one of five privacy-related penalties announced by the state Thursday, is tied to multiple violations of the same patient’s records and led to the firing of two employees. Two other people who accessed the patient’s information were contracted by a firm that works at the hospital, UCLA officials said.

The breaches began June 30 of last year, five days after the deaths of Michael Jackson, who died at the hospital, and Farrah Fawcett, a former patient who had previously had her UCLA medical files breached. The state report identified the person whose records were improperly viewed as a “deceased patient.”