Katie Stancombe reports:
A Lake County woman whose medical records were unknowingly shared with her employer by a Community Hospital worker in Munster who took her x-rays has won a reversal of her dismissed complaint against the hospital.
Amanda Henry, who received medical treatment in March 2018 at Community Hospital in Munster, was required to have x-rays taken as part of her treatment. A few days after the x-rays were taken, Henry’s employer showed her digital images of her x-rays on the employer’s cell phone. Her employer, who is married to the radiologic technician who performed Henry’s imaging, had received the digital images from the spouse.
Henry then sued Community Healthcare System Community Hospital, arguing that Community owed a duty to protect the privacy, security and confidentiality of health records generated or maintained by providers within its network, and that Henry suffered damages for which Community is liable as a result of its employee’s actions.
Read more on The Indiana Lawyer. We’ve seen a number of cases over the years where patients try to hold entities liable for the actions of their employees. In some cases, the plaintiffs have prevailed, but in other cases, the courts have found that the employer is not liable for what the employee may do if it is outside the scope of their employment duties. It will be interesting to see what happens in this case.