HIPPA

December 12, 2006 12:56 PM

Do HIPPA rules apply to health care professionals when they discuss health problems/treatments of friends and family members when they are not professionally involved with their treatment?
posted by Raybun to law & government (14 comments total)

No.
posted by OmieWise at 1:11 PM on December 12, 2006

HIPAA, not HIPPA.
posted by null terminated at 1:13 PM on December 12, 2006

No, they don't.
posted by jessamyn at 1:50 PM on December 12, 2006

No, but it still sounds like it could be interpreted as unprofessional. That is, a physician who seemed willing to openly discuss the health issues of another might be seen as cavalier about privacy issues in general.
posted by docpops at 2:24 PM on December 12, 2006

I believe that if you do not also share any personal identifing data (e.g., full name, SSN, etc.), then it's not ILLEGAL. It does, however, breach the expectation of confidentiality in a physician-patient relationship.
posted by mmmchan at 3:18 PM on December 12, 2006

Um. I can't give you legal advice. But I practice health law which means I mess with HIPAA constantly. Let me just say this: if this is a real concern, I would advise you talk to an attorney who practices health law because with HIPAA, the answer is always tricky. While it might be obvious to everyone here it does not, there needs to be a little more information to answer the question. Is the information PHI? Does the physician file electronically; is the physician a covered-entity? Has there been a use or disclosure? Has there been release? And, of course, the question always comes back to whether OCR will use its discretion.

This is all focused on the violation aspect, and as docpops pointed out, ignores the ethical and professional aspects of it.

I'm not saying that the above posters are wrong. But what I am saying is that HIPAA is one of those things that your gut reaction will tend to be correct, BUT a fact here and there can make something rather innocuous run afoul of HIPAA. So you need to tread lightly in the area because it is a real problem if you violate it and OCR decides to bend you over.
posted by dios at 3:20 PM on December 12, 2006

Wait, is the OP talking about a healthcare professional's own friends/family? As in, a doctor talking about his own mother's health? If so, did dios (above) know this when he/she answered? Just curious if that would change the answer or not.

I have this issue that I get annoyed when I see "HIPPA", especially when written/typed by healthcare professionals. Ugh, I hated to even type it that way.
posted by forensicphd at 4:14 PM on December 12, 2006

So to translate:

Say I'm a physician, and my brother three states away calls me and mentions that he has a bad case of sunburn, or raging hemorrhoids, or cancer, or whatever.

You want to know whether or not my brother can sue me, and win, if I mention to his old buddy Fred that he's all lobstery, or if I ask my church to pray for the health of his ass? Is that what you want to know?

I have to think that irrespective of the legal answer, the real answer is that if you're wondering if you'll be sued is that you need to break all contact with someone that's that horrible a human being.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 4:15 PM on December 12, 2006

Here's how I took the question: I go to the same doctor as someone else in my family, can the doctor talk about my private stuff with, for example, my mom who I might not want to know everything?
posted by Myself at 4:30 PM on December 12, 2006

Myself, that reading of the question makes no sense as the question is written. Your scenario would be a clear violation of HIPAA.

mmmchan writes "It does, however, breach the expectation of confidentiality in a physician-patient relationship."

There is no "expectation of privacy" when there is no professional relationship, as the question clearly states: not professionally involved with their treatment?

dios is correct that HIPAA is complex, although in my experience as a healthcare worker (not a lawyer) the complexities tend to result in less rather than more coverage. If your sister is a nurse and is talking about her girlfriend's TB, she is not in violation of HIPAA. Her professional responsibility does not follow her home from the clinic.
posted by OmieWise at 4:54 PM on December 12, 2006

Yeah, you're right. I misread the question. I work at a medical school, and we've been trained to be completely paranoid about doctor-patient confidentiality.
posted by mmmchan at 5:38 PM on December 12, 2006

I have to echo dios' admonition that the bright lines we would all like to see simply aren't always that clear on the ground. I am not a health lawyer, just a doc - but I'm very careful with information that might be protected health information, because I don't want someone like dios suing the pants off me on behalf of his client.
posted by ikkyu2 at 7:32 PM on December 12, 2006

It would be helpful if Raybun could chime in and clarify the question.
posted by docpops at 7:59 PM on December 12, 2006

"not professionally involved" is the important phrase here.

Assume a doc has a brother. The brother has cancer.

Scenario #1: Brother tells doc "Bro, I have cancer, but my hometown doc is taking care of me". Doc is under no duty regarding this information of any kind. He can tell his mother, grocer, or hooker "my brother has cancer".

Scenario #2: Doc is looking through medical charts at the hospital and sees his brother has cancer. Doc calls mom and says "did you know brother has cancer?" That is a clear violation because the doc obtained PHI without the others consent, and had no medically necessary reason for doing so. Then further, he shared it with someone without brother's consent.

Scenario #3: Doc is treating the brother for cancer. If doc tells others of brother's treatment, even family members, without brother's consent, thats a clear violation.

As OmieWise says above, there has to be, at a bare minimum, an expectation of privacy.

You automatically have that at a doctor's office. You don't automatically have that expectation at the dinner table. In fact, it would have to be pretty special circumstances to even be possible.
posted by Ynoxas at 9:32 PM on December 12, 2006