Jeff D. Gorman reports: A hospital and one of its nurses are not liable for disclosing a woman’s HIV-positive status to family members who visited her, the Missouri Court of Appeals ruled. Candy Ziolkowski sued the Heartland Regional Medical Center for violation of a Missouri law that keeps the HIV status of patients confidential. She claimed…
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More on the "harm" threshold (and its possible demise)
Over on HIPAA Blog, attorney Jeff Drummond writes: More on the “harm” threshold (and its possible demise): During this past week, the AHLA “HIT list” listserv has buzzed with commentary on the “harm” threshold (in large part started by the NYT article mentioned here), whether it should even be in there (or is an unconstitutional…
The Rite Aid Scandal: Health Records Still Treated as Commodities
Billy Wharton writes in CounterPunch: The mega drug store chain Rite Aid recently agreed to pay a $1 million fine to stave off a full investigation by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) into practices that may have compromised customer records. The agreement was prompted by news reports that Rite Aid stores in several locations had…
German prosecutors seek suspended sentence for No Angels singer
A prosecutor called Wednesday for a suspended jail term for German pop star Nadja Benaissa on trial for hiding her HIV status from her sexual partners and infecting one of them with the virus. Prosecutor Peter Liesenfeld called for a two-year suspended sentence for grievous bodily harm during closing arguments in the trial of the…
Ca: Privacy commissioner investigates 'Golo' admittance into Calgary hospital
Sherri Zickefoose reports: The privacy commissioner is launching an investigation into how a Calgary hospital admitted a sick man using the stolen identity of another man. The man, now known only by the Chinese nickname Golo, used a stolen Alberta Health Care card of a casino aquaintance when he was admitted at Foothills hospital over…
NZ: Health Ministry seized 30,000 patient files
A search warrant allowing the Ministry of Health to seize about 30,000 patient files from an Auckland GP’s office was a “fishing exercise” based on incomplete and inaccurate information, the doctor’s lawyer old the Court of Appeal today. The doctor, Judith Gill, is appealing a judicial review that upheld the ministry’s search warrant. Her practice,…