Judge Axes HIPAA Prosecution of Psychiatrist Accused of Revealing Medical Info for Spite
Updated: A psychiatrist accused of disclosing information about a patient who was a Virginia state trooper was on trial briefly this week in what could be the first prosecution of a physician for an alleged violation of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.
But a federal judge in Norfolk this morning dismissed all charges against Dr. Richard Alan Kaye, saying that the government had failed to prove its case, reports the Virginian-Pilot.
Federal prosecutors had claimed that Kaye disclosed medical information to the trooper’s supervisors in retaliation for her complaints about his treatment to his hospital in Suffolk, Va., an earlier Virginian-Pilot article reported. HIPAA bars disclosure of health records absent patient consent. The trooper was being treated after she was held hostage and raped over three nights.
Kaye claims he told the woman’s supervisors that she had been involuntarily committed after she left his care because she was a danger to herself and others. According to Kaye’s lawyer, he had no idea she had filed a complaint against him.
Doctors face potential civil liability to patients and third parties if they are determined to have violated a duty to warn of imminent danger to identifiable persons.
“This was a big deal,” Kaye said after the verdict, explaining that a conviction in the case would have put physicians in a difficult position when they needed to make such a warning. “This was the first prosecution of its kind. It could have collapsed the entire system.”
The newspaper says criminal prosecutions for HIPAA violations are rare, and they usually involve financial gain. In one case, a Nevada man was sentenced to 33 months in prison earlier this year for accessing health records and giving the information to personal injury lawyers.
Updated at 12:27 p.m. to include information from new Virginian-Pilot article about dismissal of case.
Also see:
ABAJournal.com: “Vegas Hospital Volunteer Pleads Guilty to Soliciting Patients for PI Lawyers”
Justice Department (release): “Man Who Unlawfully Purchased UMC Patient Record Information Sentenced to 33 Months in Prison”
