Hospital Pays Price for Messing With Octo-Mom
Medical records drama translates to fine for Kaiser Permanente Bellflower
By OLSEN EBRIGHT and FRED SHUSTER
Updated 2:58 PM PDT, Thu, Jan 7, 2010
Whether you love or hate octo-mom Nadya Suleman, you don't have a right to see her medical records without her permission.
That seems a bit counterintuitive considering Suleman is the front runner for publicity hound of the year (Sorry, Jon and Kate). Even so, medical record snooping is going to cost Kaiser Permanente Bellflower $187,500 as part of an administrative penalty from the Department of Public Health.
That's only half of Kaiser Bellflower's bill from state public health regulators.
Back in May, it was fined $250,000 after an internal probe found that 23 employees of the hospital, including two doctors, improperly breached the privacy of Suleman herself after the Jan. 26 births, City News Service reported:
As a result of that investigation, one worker was fired, 14 others resigned and the hospital took action against eight employees, a Kaiser spokesman said.The investigation into the infants' computer records found four further hospital employees were involved. Of those, two resigned, one was fired and one worker was disciplined, said Kaiser spokesman Jim Anderson.
"We agree with the state regarding the extreme importance of patient confidentiality," Anderson told CNS. "When we found out what had taken place, we took quick action."
Anderson said all the snooping activity took place within the first few days after the births, during the media frenzy that surrounded Suleman. He also said there was no evidence any employee did anything with the medical information other than look at it for their own amusement.
First Published: Jul 16, 2009 3:35 PM PDT
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