There is a Doctor on the ward counsel that routinely spouts off the medical conditions of his patients (also ward members) at the prompting of the Bishop. It is a small town and only a few Doctors. The first time the bishop asked, he was hesitant to answer, but over the last few months it seems that he has taken a liking to spilling the beans on his member patients. Isn’t this a violation of some patient’s rights laws? Thanks.

Yes, this is illegal. Report him to your local department of health.

I am a physician, and can absolutely tell you this is a frank violation of federal HIPPA regulations. If this woman, or her POA (Power of Attorney) if she is not mentally competent, has NOT given express permission to disclose medically-sensitive information in this instance, then this physician has broken the law in regard to physician-patient confidentiality.

The penalty for HIPPA violations, per the ARRA act of 2009, can be upwards of $50,000 per violation with an annual maximum of $1.5 million.

I have served as hospital chief-of-staff and chairman of the Medical Executive Board, and have seen a physician FINED and reported to the State Medical Board for a similar HIPPA infraction.

If he is disclosing names and speaking about their conditions he is big time. Tell him he knows better, and is in violation of the law if his patients have not signed a release waiver for him to disclose their information with the ward council.

Report him!!!!!!!

It certainly is if he is giving names. I work in ERISA law and have to read this stuff all the time.

Yes he names names. The Bishop expects a report on one person every meeting. MRI results, cancer tests, you name it. The problem these two think they are being benevolent and helpful. There is an older lady in the ward having trouble taking care of herself (not a patient of the Doctors) and the bishop asked for a diagnosis at to weather she was mentally fit or not. He announced that it was his opinion that she wasn’t. Everyone there thinks he is such a great guy.

Giving his opinion about someone who is not his patient would probably not be a legal violation. But disclosing protected health information is really stupid. He has to know that is a violation. Obviously he believes since he's doing it for almightygawd, it's all good. He must think no one on that committee would rat him out like he needs to be outed. How would they feel if it was their information being discussed?

The fact he is able to have a patients information even if he is not their doctor is a violation. That means information is being shared that should not be shared.
Only those who have a legitimate reason to view a patients chart should be reading it, it is a serious breach.
If an employee if found looking where they have no business, they can be fired on the spot.

The issue of patient confidentiality are treated very seriously these days. I believe here in Idaho you can make an anonymous complaint with several agencies including the states' medical association. What this guy is doing violated the sanctity of one of society's most sacred areas of trust.

Not only report the Doctor, but also the Bishop to the higher ups go as far up the chain as you can and let your members know too what's been compromised. This is a serious lawsuit if the right people get pissed off enough. Why would a bishop every need that informations? NEVER is the answer! Pure GOSSIP FODDER is the answer. This shit just spins me into the ceiling.

This is 100% wrong and he can get into a lot of trouble for it.
Anyone who works in the medical field can be fined huge amounts, plus hospital also can be hit with a very large fine if HIPPA is compromised.

I worked in a hospital, even if I was aware of something happening to a neighbor/close friend, I would not be allowed to ever speak of it to an outside party, even if I thought it would be someone who needed to know.

You would be doing a kindness to this Dr by stopping this before it gets even worse.

"You might be doing a kindness..."

Seriously? Do you think this doctor doesn't know exactly what he is doing?

Do you think he's unaware of the law?

He has taken deliberate actions to violate the privacy of his patients in direct contravention of the law.

This isn't some misunderstanding on his part. Report him immediately.

Tonto Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> "You might be doing a kindness..."
>
> Seriously? Do you think this doctor doesn't know
> exactly what he is doing?
>
> Do you think he's unaware of the law?
>
> He has taken deliberate actions to violate the
> privacy of his patients in direct contravention of
> the law.
>
> This isn't some misunderstanding on his part.
> Report him immediately.


Yes I believe the doctor knows exactly what he is doing, and also knows it is wrong.
By a kindness, I mean doing something to stop him from doing even more. It needs to stop period. It should be reported I agree.
Also the person who is doing the asking needs to be educated in how illegal this is.

I wonder how this turned out!

This is a huge deal, and totally illegal if he is disclosing anything about a patient. HIPPA laws are to protect the patient and if he is giving out info about a specific person, he is in deep trouble. Make sure you have good evidence, then report him to the medical board. (I think that's the right place.)

I hope you don't take this lightly and not do anything or say anything to someone as suggested by eaglejedi and darkprincess.

This is serious. Contacting The higher ups within the church would be a very good idea. If you want to keep anonymous about it you can do that as well. At the very least contact the SP and tell him what you know and if it does not stop NOW, you will contact the department of health and a medical attorney for further advice.

Would you want him disclosing such info of your spouse, loved one's, kids, etc, etc?

OP:
Gather first-hand information.

Record several ward council meetings where the information is discussed.

Then report it.

You may be asked to get 'more' recordings as evidence.

Working with non-LDS law enforcement could be very beneficial.

I suspect TSCC (even the bishop) would likely deny the allegations to civil authorities to protect TSCC from lawsuit.

DO NOT, NOT, NOT report it to Stake Presidents or LDS leaders. They will do anything to sweep the issue under the rug, even cover up the matter if it is illegal.

These are the kinds of 'over-the-top' illegalities that TSCC fears. On the SLC level, they've got layers of attorneys to protect the Q15 and GAs in their dealings. But, on the lower local level, idiots and pious leaders are usually not being lawyered to death and can cross the line of legality with little repercussions.

I'd stay under the radar as much as possible when gathering evidence.

This.

And if everything blows up and gets into the mainstream news, it'll inform the rest of society about TSCC.

Recovered Molly Mo is correct about sharing info on a need-to-know basis. I have lots of records that are only in doctors' files and not on the medical intranet.

Does he have a signed release specifically allowing him to give patient information to all members of this ward council? if not, he and every single member of this ward council is violating HIPPA laws.

It is a violation of HIPAA if ANYTHING is mentioned outside of a "need to know" professionalism associated with the direct care and treatment of that patient.

You do not need to just say "Well you know Joe James has cancer right?".

One can identify a patient without mentioning names. Information can be discerned easily by putting the most basic facts together.

There is NO REASON for this Doctor to be mentioning anything about patients on that council. Being in a smaller town it is way to easy to have others know private business.

You can report a violation at:

http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/privacy/

It sounds as though the OP is part of the meetings where the privacy laws are violated. Record them before you report them.

Yes, this is highly illegal. You'd think at least one guy with all those Powers of Discernment, would know this.

You'd also think that by now some of those who had been HIPPA-violated would have had the revealed information reach their ears and be wondering where the leak was.

Of course the big question is, can the corporate church be held in as a defendant, on the basis of the insistence of the bishop that the information be divulged?

The bishop is wrong in asking the doc to discuss the info and the doctor is wrong to tell. I once worked with the state health department and this gave me knowledge of activity of some church members that was contrary to church standards that possibly could result in their excommunication. I was in conflict and so asked my bishop if I should report this information to their bishops. He asked me what the law had to say on this matter and I told him that the law required this information be kept confidential. He told me to follow the law and not to let on that I was aware of their situation. I was no longer in conflict and the info remained confidential. I finally figured that this was not my business and how it should be handled was between that member and the Lord.

Anything done within the confines of a church is sacred, if the Spirit dictates. The Supreme Court cannot decide a case involving spiritual matters. The Mountain Meadows Massacre was discussed using this cover, and we may see that a lowly scapegoat was chosen to take the fall.

Evil in a sacred setting becomes unpunishable. (John 8:7)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_D._Lee

If this is the case, why were priests and the Catholic Church held accountable -- both civilly and criminally -- for abusing children?

because they were judged on their deeds, not just their words, perhaps?

And there's always the court of public opinion. Send the recordings to NNN to ensure exposure.

I'm medical doctor, although in Australia. I'm a specialist in emergency medicine.

What this doctor is doing, as per the OP, is totally illegal and contravenes good ethical medical practice, regardless of the jurisdiction.

The guidelines and codes of good medical practice are relatively uniform across jurisdictions and, if what is stated is correct, the physician referred to by the OP is in breach of his licence.

Such behaviour of a medical professional is unacceptable.

This is reportable to the relevant medical board and the physician in question risks loosing his medical registration.

Breaching patient confidentiality is one of the worst offences.

Please report them. This behaviour is totally unacceptable.

I'm medical doctor, although in Australia. I'm a specialist in emergency medicine.

What this doctor is doing, as per the OP, is totally illegal and contravenes good ethical medical practice, regardless of the jurisdiction.

The guidelines and codes of good medical practice are relatively uniform across jurisdictions and, if what is stated is correct, the physician referred to by the OP is in breach of his licence.

Such behaviour of a medical professional is unacceptable.

This is reportable to the relevant medical board and the physician in question risks loosing his medical registration.

Breaching patient confidentiality is one of the worst offences.

Please report them. This behaviour is totally unacceptable.

This sounds like a great illustration of the "frontier" attitude that TSCC has about "community", like a small group of isolated mormons somewhere in Utah in the 1870's. I have never been in a Ward Council meeting, but it sounds like...they run out of real business so they get down to "busy-ness" and talk about members! The right to privacy in TSCC is minimal because it's all supposed to be one big church-centered family, and there is so much time spent at meetings and activities that once real church business and planning is done (which in many churches can be taken care in 15 minutes over coffee after a Sunday service), there's nothing left to do but gossip under the guise of "pastoral care." Most families would approach a church leader personally if they have a need, or perhaps a pastor might contact a family if they seem to be in trouble and see if they need help, but in mormonism families are just another cog in the hamster wheel...



I'm not expressing this well, but that's the gist of it.

Yes.

https://www.hhs.gov/hipaa/for-individuals/guidance-materials-for-consumers/

Recovered Molly Mo stated, "It is a violation of HIPAA if ANYTHING is mentioned outside of a "need to know" professionalism associated with the direct care and treatment of that patient."
The "need to know" is NOT Ward Correlation or any other meetings. There are fines for violations of HIPAA, even if a person is unaware they violated it. I am a nurse and everyone in the health industry including CS Reps for insurance companies have to go through yearly HIPAA training. There is no way this Dr. would be unaware that he is in violation and what the fines are. Report this guy to the State Board of Physicians in your state now.

Just a reminder to everyone that this is an old thread. May have already been reported.