Hennepin County Medical Center based in Minneapolis is likely to face legal action following the discovery that a number of employees have snooped on the medical records of George Floyd. Attorney Antonio Romanucci of the law agency Romanucci & Blandin in Chicago stated he received a notice that some Hennepin County Medical Center employees got access to George Floyd’s medical files on several instances even if they had no legit reason to do so, which clearly violates the policies of the hospital and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).
Lawyers representing Hennepin County Medical Center informed George Floyd’s family that certain employees inappropriately accessed selected records associated with George Floyd. There were no specifics disclosed regarding the types of records accessed by the employees, the persons involved, and their job positions at Hennepin County Medical Center.
Attorney Antonio Romanucci and Floyd’s legal team released a statement to the Star Tribune stating they are presently looking into all possible options to make the situation right and make the entire family united for this unbelievable invasion of privacy. The privacy of health records and personal data is of vital importance in Minnesota and throughout the country.
George Floyd’s family have not decided yet if legal action will be taken against Hennepin County Medical Center. At this point, there are no subpoenas issued to get more details from Hennepin County Medical Center regarding the number of persons involved and which types of data were accessed.
Regarding the privacy breach, Hennepin Healthcare stated that the medical center takes any breach of patient confidentiality seriously and carefully investigates it. No other comment about the privacy breach was given because of patient confidentiality. Hennepin Healthcare also stated that the persons who snooped on George Floyd’s protected health information (PHI) are not employed at Hennepin County Medical Center any more. It is not clear if those persons were dismissed from work or if they resigned from their job positions voluntarily.