Sunday, August 12, 2012

La Verne teacher claims Kaiser Permanente nurse violated her privacy

Teacher claims Kaiser nurse violated her privacy
allnurses.com
Jun 9, '09

When stories about hospital privacy breaches turn into lawsuits, there's usually a celebrity name attached.

Britney Spears, Farrah Fawcett and Nadya Suleman have all claimed medical staffs snooped through their confidential records.

But celebrities aren't the only ones alleging violation of their privacy. A second- grade teacher in La Verne says she is the latest victim of a medical confidentiality breach.

Louise Steele, 56, claims a Kaiser Permanente nurse pried into her medical file and reported the findings to her employer, Bonita Unified School District, according to a lawsuit filed May 29 in Los Angeles Superior Court.

Steele accuses Kaiser Permanente and nurse Lisa Martinez of conspiracy, negligence, invasion of privacy and emotional distress, according to the complaint.

Martinez, who had a child in Steele's class at Roynon Elementary School, did not return calls Tuesday....

In January, Lisa Martinez accused Steele of making a derogatory comment to her son. Her son was removed from Steele's Roynon Elementary class.

Shortly after, Martinez was filling in at the San Dimas office of Steele's physician when Steele came in for an appointment.

Martinez accessed Steele's medical records and reported the content, which included mental- and emotional- health information about Steele, to her ex-husband. Alex Martinez then submitted a letter dated May 18 to the school district stating Steele "is not fit to continue being an elementary school teacher" and asked the district to investigate. Soon after, Steele received an anonymous letter saying Martinez pried into Steele's medical file.

1 comment:

lenny said...

Security in terms of the privacy of insured persons should be raised. A system should be installed for nationwide security of medical files.