(This story was first reported on the web site of our publisher, reliasmedia.com, on Feb. 10. Keep up with breaking news on the web site.)
Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami has fired two employees for inappropriately accessing the medical records of an NFL football player and settled a related lawsuit for an undisclosed amount.
New York Giants pass rusher Jason Pierre-Paul had sought treatment at Jackson Memorial after a fireworks accident over the Fourth of July weekend in 2015. A few days later, ESPN posted a photo of part of Pierre-Paul’s medical record on Twitter, with the note: “ESPN obtained medical charts that show Giants DE Jason Pierre-Paul had right index finger amputated today.”
The hospital issued statements within 90 minutes and pledged to “seriously and aggressively” investigate any alleged violation of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). The hospital recently announced the results of the probe with a statement noting litigation arose during the investigation.
Pierre-Paul was not able to sue with any HIPAA claim but sued for civil damages. The lawsuit was settled, and the employees responsible for providing the patient records to ESPN were fired, the statement says. (For more on the incident, see “Hospital investigating after ESPN publishes football player’s medical record,” Healthcare Risk Management, September 2015, at http://tinyurl.com/zo3m3fx.)
