Over eighty women are suing a California hospital for the secret recording of their gynecological surgeries. The recordings filmed activity in three labor and delivery rooms at the Women’s Center at Sharp Grossmont Hospital in La Mesa, California, over a period of more than 11 months beginning in summer 2012. While the hospital set up the recording equipment to catch a staff member stealing medications, the camera also recorded hundreds of patients’ procedures. Patients were not informed they were being recorded.
From July 17, 2012, to June 30, 2013, roughly 1,800 women were recorded in the three operating rooms at the hospital’s women’s center, according to the complaint. The motion-sensing cameras recorded video of births, emergency C-sections, miscarriages, hysterectomies, sterilizations, and a variety of other procedures.
Secret Recording Violates Patient Privacy
According to a recent survey by health insurance company Aetna, 84 percent of women identified privacy as a top concern when it comes to their medical history and doctor/patient relationships. The California hospital’s video secret recording violated the women’s patient privacy rights by providing extremely intimate access to their medical information without their consent.
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) imposes numerous requirements on health care providers in the way they collect, store, share, and transmit protected health information. Failure to comply with the complex federal rules imposed by HIPAA is punishable by law, and includes penalties ranging from fines to criminal prosecution and even imprisonment. And, even though HIPAA does not provide the right to sue in federal court, lawsuits filed in state courts have used HIPAA standards to establish liability.
What You Can Do If Your Right To Privacy Is Violated:
- File a HIPAA privacy complaint with the Office of Civil Rights (OCR).
- File a complaint against the physician involved with the Pennsylvania Department of State.
- File a complaint against the hospital or other facility involved with the Pennsylvania Department of Health.
- Contact a medical malpractice attorney to determine if you have a legal case. In most states, privacy violations provide a legal cause of action for invasion of privacy or for negligence.
Pennsylvania Medical Malpractice Lawyers
Has a medical institution or doctor violated your HIPAA rights or privacy? You can report a HIPAA violation such as a secret recording by filing a complaint today as well as seek a legal recourse. Speak to the Philadelphia HIPAA violation lawyers from Lopez McHugh LLP today to get a free consultation.