HIPAA Blog

[ Monday, December 03, 2007 ]

 

Privacy Dispute Covered by Arbitration Agreement: In Titolo v. Cano, Cal. Ct. App., No. G037641, 11/28/07, a California patient signed an arbitration agreement when she first saw her physician, agreeing to go to arbitration if there was a dispute between them. These agreements are typically an attempt by physicians to move potential malpractice cases into arbitration settings to save costs. The patient ended up in a dispute with the physician over the physician's disclosure of information to the patient's disability insurer. Actually, the physician noted that the patient was a "scam artist and a fraud" in her medical record while finding the patient not to be disabled, and then sent the medical record to the disability insurer. The patient sued for that disclosure, calling it a breach of fiduciary duty, violation of privacy rights, and other things. The doctor moved to have the court case moved to arbitration; the trial court said it wasn't covered by the arbitration agreement, but the appeals court disagreed. The case hasn't been decided on the merits yet, but the appellate decision moving it to arbitration is here.

Via BNA (subscription required).

Jeff [11:38 AM]

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