Freedumb Mag in HIPAA breach?

Re: Freedumb Mag in HIPAA breach?

What gives the EX wife the right to distribute medical information?

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Absolutely nothing at all. Internet Lawyers ITT.

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Divorce papers, being bitter, being a douche.. it's not a crime to gossip.. though the scale of this publication is a little extreme.

If you think somehow it is "illegal" ask yourself about the little methodist church that has "prayer for jimmy's colon surgery".

You might be able to sue someone for defamation in the most extreme example.. but you'd have to prove the harm, the intent to do harm, in this case prove who said what, etc.

Re: Freedumb Mag in HIPAA breach?

prayers for healing is another thing and usually in those instances it's asked for by the patient or family and harm usually does not come of it. In this instance, however, I think the intent is made clear and it's certainly not a wish you well.

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I'm sure someone else will come along and maybe try and talk some sense into you, but this "who gives you the right" stuff... Can you even imagine someone divorcing and writing a tell all book. Imagine a celebrity broke up and someone runs to the tabloids with details about all the plastic surgery. None of this sound familiar?

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WTF are you people doing up so early? I have an excuse, my cat woke me up. And yes, it sounds like a violation to me. It sounded that way when they disclosed the PC folders.

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I'm pretty sure there's been a few cases where people have been sued over that kind of stuff. Just can't recall any cases off the top of my head.

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I work in healthcare, I deal with HIPAA daily.

This is 100% no doubt a breach of HIPAA. 100%. Period.

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I did the same thing.

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*sings* Hold me closer Tiny Dancer. Sorry I had to do that at LEAST once!

Re: Freedumb Mag in HIPAA breach?

Re: Freedumb Mag in HIPAA breach?

<3's /b/roski.

HOLD ME CLOS-ER COLON CANNNNNCER

(i just mean this is what he'll be singing after a year or two in the joint)

Re: Freedumb Mag in HIPAA breach?

I may be mistaken, but as I recall Rathbun talked about his various health problems in his SP Times interview video. Since he made the information public would that let the cult off the hook?

Even so, most people would find this offense conduct to say the least.

I dont rcall is he mantioned who paid for his medical care. On my way out the door, no time to check.

Re: Freedumb Mag in HIPAA breach?

A comment posted on Marty Rathbun's blog:

Wake Up Moving On Up a Little Higher

Re: Freedumb Mag in HIPAA breach?

^^^

There is no reason to believe that KINGPIN didn't give information to these people himself. To automatically assume that this information was gotten from medical records is a stretch. It could have been but there are other ways they could have found out. Vericose veins being removed is not exactly something a person would be ashamed to talk about.

Re: Freedumb Mag in HIPAA breach?

Absolute Gold and a timely tribute to DM. Thanks.

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I recall Marty mentioning dental work and work on his back. He did not disclose a colonoscopy, nor the details of what was found and done. That is very personal information and it is deeply abhorrent that it was used in the publication.

Re: Freedumb Mag in HIPAA breach?

Marty is now fully aware of the situation.

You may resume your day.

Re: Freedumb Mag in HIPAA breach?

For a third party (employer) to print, and mail in large quantities what procedures were done on a former employee is basically the worst case scenario as far as a breach of HIPAA. There is a reason when you go to the doc's now you sign something that allows them to share the information of what they find with other doctors, or with a person you trust, usually a wife or parent. In no way ever do you release the right for someone else to mail your medical history to a large town of strangers.

Seriously, each mailer could be seen as a single offense of HIPAA. Each and every one because they disclosed the information to X people. The only thing they would have to do is prove malicious intent and they are looking at maximum penalty. Even if there was no malicious intent, it is the responsibility of the doctor, and provider, and employer to keep the records hidden. Even if a persons records get out with no malicious intent the party responsible can be held accountable because they did not provide the security necessary as part of HIPAA. This would be a lesser charge probably, but still breaks HIPAA.

Stating procedures done, and the results of them to a large populace, that most likely doesn't even know who this man is, is exactly the reason why HIPAA was enacted.

Also, all parties in the chain could be held accountable. So IF it was an ex-wife and she went to Kinkos, and Kinkos made it all pretty Kinkos could be held accountable too. This means Bridge Publication (which I assume printed the shit) is liable. So the question is, does RTC get sued, or does RTC, Bridge Pub, CoS get sued? They can all be proven to be a part of it I'm sure.

Scientology seriously might have just an hero'ed itself.

Re: Freedumb Mag in HIPAA breach?

I feel so warm and gooey inside... oh wait that's just the MASSIVE AMOUNTS OF JIZZ I JUST UNLEASHED INTO MY PANTS!

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All Scientology publications have to get "issue authority" by RTC, which makes David Miscavige personally responsible for publishing Freedom Magazine, am I right?

As the former employer he would also be responsible for leaking the information.

So there you have two avenues of getting David "Slappy Squirrel" Miscavige punished.

Yes?

Re: Freedumb Mag in HIPAA breach?

I have nothing to add to this thread except my sperm, and lots of it.

I really think DM has fucked up monumentally with this

Re: Freedumb Mag in HIPAA breach?

THANK YOU! I was getting ready to post that RTC, L. Ron Hubbard Library and Church of Scientology International all mentioned on the inside front cover=page 2 at the bottom of the page.

Back cover/top left lists: Church of Scientology
Flag Service Organization
P.O. Box 31751
Tampa, FL 33631-3751

I don't know if that matters. It's just that those are the only things I can find that show who published this since there are no authors listed.

Re: Freedumb Mag in HIPAA breach?

The entire Freedom Mag is evidence of malicious intent!

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While the reality is they probably will do nothing without a complaint from an aggreived party, this means DoJ could bring an action on it's own hook if it thought the violation was egregious enough.

Anyone in FL sent the Assistant AG for the Florida area a copy of this rag to peruse yet? Maybe with a note pointing out the violation.

BigBeard

Re: Freedumb Mag in HIPAA breach?

*Edit - if post #63 is correct, and they threw all trademarks and copyrights listing all the CoS enterprises in the mag, then yes, they can all be found accountable.

Wasn't he technically employeed by Church of Scientology? That would be the employer to sue I bet. The printer, Bridge Publications, would be accountable as well. If DM does indeed sign off of Freedom Mag, then yes he too would be accountable. So do you attack all as seperate entities, or do you go after the Enterprise as one unit? If indeed RTC has editorial priveledge to Freedom Mag, or issue authority, then yes, they too could be accountable.

Needless to say, he needs to go here and do this:
How To File a HIPAA Privacy Rule Complaint

Anyone can file a complaint. Once a complaint has been filed ANY FORM OF RETALIATION FROM THE ORGANIZATION THE COMPLAINT IS AGAINST can be seen as retaliation for the complaint....at which point large heavy books are thrown.

Re: Freedumb Mag in HIPAA breach?

Rear cover reads:

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Anyone can call and just ask if this is a violation. This would be the direct office to notify.

Agency for Workforce Innovation - Office for Civil Rights Home Page

Email: civil.rights@awi.state.fl.us
Phone: (850) 921-3201 Fax: (850) 921-3122 TTY: 711

Peter de Haan - EO officer
107 E. Madison St.
Caldwell Bldg., MSC 150
Tallahassee, FL 32399-4129

Re: Freedumb Mag in HIPAA breach?

Being the experts in dissemination that they are, of course, it looks like they're promoting the Freedom Mag via Google Ads.

Just a little something to bring to the attention of law enforcement/the court, if... when...

http://forums.whyweprotest.net/312-...se/scilon-anti-sp-times-ads-google-ads-50504/

Re: Freedumb Mag in HIPAA breach?

I'd like to think that Marty would run with this, even if it comes to nothing, but not holding my breath on this one.

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seems this rag has proven to be more of a footbullet than first thought.

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Again, the HIPAA complaints do NOT start with DOJ, but have to work their way through OCR and usually end up with a voluntary fix to improve their compliance.

The FL AG is probably the best bet, but again only KINGPIN can make the complaint.


The only parties who cannot disclose patient information are "health care providers" (Fla. Stat. Ann. §456.057, defining “health care practitioner”) and also "record holders" (Fla. Stat. Ann. §456.057(1), defining “records owner.”)

Statutes & Constitution :View Statutes : Online Sunshine

The only way this was a violation is if it came from an insurance payment or billing area... Or a healthcare provider. You would have to prove it didn't come from a conversation with a friend or even his get off of work request slip that gets sent up to be approved.

Re: Freedumb Mag in HIPAA breach?

I wouldn't get overly excited about this yet. From the information in this thread it seems that something illegal only took place here if the info they published came from a confidential medical document. If he told people about it than it looks like what they did is slimy, but not illegal. Obviously this is worth pursuing because of the potential fallout if they really did violate the law. But as of now, it doesn't look like they can be nailed to the wall like some are hoping.

More info here: http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/privacy/hipaa/understanding/consumers/index.html

In the list of "Who is Not required to comply," click on "employers" for more detailed info.

Again, from reading that it seems that they haven't violated the law in question here.

Re: Freedumb Mag in HIPAA breach?

He was an employee?
Aren't they all "volunteers"?

Re: Freedumb Mag in HIPAA breach?

This is what it says on p. 58:

"There, he is provided a three-bedroom, two-bath apartment shared with a pet chihuahua. He is additionally provided with upwards of $85,000 in medical care to treat a shopping list of outstanding complaints, including:"

Then it goes on to list the complaints.

They're saying that they gave him the money for these procedures and then they list them.

Don't you think they'd have those medical receipts on hand to show proof that they forked over that much money? Are medical receipts thought of as "confidential medical documents"? They do list the procedures along with the cost.

Re: Freedumb Mag in HIPAA breach?

The statute also defines "record custodian":

The obligation is a little broader than you state. But it does appear to be an obligation imposed primarily upon the medical professions and related entities.

The federal statute is wider.

Re: Freedumb Mag in HIPAA breach?

That's because most of the time it's a slip-up and not a leak with malicious intent. But we'll see.

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Hmm.. I think you are right that the dollar amount is the most clear violation here. If someone scoured the medical plan accounting information for medical bills paid for a certain patient.. that seems like a violation.

The only possible other excuses are that they just made up a number, or the ex-wife had access to the bills they send the patient (which are usually paid by insurance). If Rathbun can show the bills added up to like almost exactly $85,000 and it wasn't his wife.. then someone seems royally busted.

I doubt Rathbun was telling co-workers how much insurance was charging for his procedures. I doubt there is any way you could hear third hand the total cost of three to ten medical bills.

Seems like this is what Kingpin can use to blow their wad.

Re: Freedumb Mag in HIPAA breach?

Not so fast.

My reading of HIPAA and the site you refer to indicates that an employer might be caught where it provides a health plan to an employee(s). Strictly, the health plan is considered a separate legal entity under the legislation (hence the fact that the employer may not be liable AS EMPLOYER, but AS HEALTH PLAN). What that looks like, I don't know.

Edit: s.1171 Definitions: