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ADVANCE Perspective: HIM

Releasing Clooney's Medical Records?

Published October 10, 2007 8:54 AM by Lisa Algeo

There are reports surfacing that when Hollywood hunk George Clooney and girlfriend Sarah Larson left Palisades Medical Center in New Jersey following a motorcycle accident, their medical conditions quickly hit the newswires. Maybe a bit too quickly? News outlets, entertainment programs and newspapers were all reporting the star's specific injuries just hours after the couple left the medical center. Was protected health information released without his consent?

According to a comcast.net article, more than two dozen employees at Palisades Medical Center have been suspended without pay pending an investigation into whether they leaked details about Clooney's condition. The article states that nearly 40 staff members, including doctors and nurses, are being investigated for leaking information to the press.

So, whatever happened to HIPAA? Are famous people exempt to confidentiality? Maybe the staff at Palisades needs a refresher course in protecting patient privacy.

posted by Lisa Algeo

2 comments
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Personally, I don't think HIPPA is worth the paper it is written on.  If Clooney himself had ended up in the OR, don't you think the OR staff would have been arguing over who was going to be in the room? And, who was going to be doing the prepping?

Healthcare people are just people... the word, "professionalism" is over-rated and over-used.  
Diana December 3, 2007 4:09 PM

I live in the vicinity of that hospital and it's reputation precedes it as being non-HIPAA compliant and also with lousy medical care.  Almost no one who knows any better goes to that hospital unless it is a dire emergency.  There's no professionalism.
Bernadette Wolff, medical billing/coding November 4, 2007 9:08 AM

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