By Julia Vann
Imagine, all at once, your medical records becoming public knowledge. It’s a scary thought, having what should remain private suddenly under the public gaze. At best, it would be embarrassing, and at worst, it could lead to discrimination and harsh judgment from your peers. For most of us, we don’t have to worry about this. Unfortunately, for a number of patients in New Mexico, this nightmare has become a reality.
According to HIPAA Journal, on August 30th, during transit, some patient records fell out from the back of the truck and into the middle of the busy street for anyone to see. These records held the full names, medical conditions, social security numbers, and more of the patients of Turquoise Lodge Hospital.
Those records reportedly laid in the streets for up to 12 hours before the New Mexico Department of Health cleared them up. It’s impossible to know just yet if everything was recovered, but it doesn’t seem unlikely that some passerby would take advantage of the situation.
So what happens now? Well, at the moment, the solution seems unclear. HIPAA Journal didn’t mention what the New Mexico Department of Health intends to do to fix the situation or how they’re going to ensure the safety of the victims. It raises some other questions as well such as who the liability of this situation falls upon. In all likelihood, there will probably be consequences for this.
It wouldn’t surprise me if a lawsuit came out of this.
For the time being, however, it doesn’t look like any new information has been released. It wouldn’t be a bad idea to keep an eye on the situation and see where it goes.
For more information about health care, visit the American Medical Compliance website today.
