HIPAA Blog

[ Thursday, August 28, 2008 ]

 

Celebrity Snoopin': USA Today is on the case. The lawyers quoted are right: celebrities have as much right as anyone to the privacy protections of HIPAA, but tabloids aren't responsible or liable for republishing medical information about celebrities. They could potentially be an accessory to the crime committed by the snooper, or an aider and abbettor. They could also possibly be prosecuted on some sort of "hiring the hitman" theory, in that they pay the snooper to disclose the information. But the tabloid isn't a covered entity, and if the original source of the information isn't a covered entity (it comes from someone in the waiting room, for example), or if there's a string of intermediary parties, then it would be awfully hard, if not impossible, to hold the tabloid liable.

Jeff [10:38 AM]

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