My most sincere condolences to Mrs. Cannaday and the family of Anne Pressly. Since this appears to be a violation of Federal HIPPA laws perhaps this lawsuit should belong in Federal court. I

The bottom line is that they were found guilty and convicted of a mideamenor crime. The only question left would be is their sentence which i'm sure was probation per a plea agreement with the prosecutors enough of a message to keep this from happening in the future.... or does it say that if I'm near death that it is worth the risk to violate my privacy. Personally, i would hope they were punished more. It was not only violating her rights but it was also an abuse of power though their position at the hospital that granted them access to these files. It doesnt say if any action was taken by the hospital adinistration. If the hospial dd not take action against them then in my opinion they are just as liable.

1gmama is correct. Like I said, the military security clearance system is similar; on a need to know basis.

there is also the HIPPA Law, that limits access to your medical records to hospital personell and doctors on a need to know basic. What these people did was violate this law.

@ Arkansas Yankee, thans for explaining. I hadn't thought of it in those terms.

SVI in LR is a joke anyway. Wouldn't send my dog to be treated there.

Yep, you spelled it correctly. In my previous post, I mentioned my SSN. No one needs to see it, or have access to it, period. She may have had a disease that was no one's business to know about. A past medical procedure or operation that isn't anyone's business. And just because someone is deceased; that does not give the world the right to know her personal business as far as her medical records are concerned. At least that's my opinion. Not so sure the family is worried about anyone seeing her records; it's the fact that they had no business looking at them; especially while she was still alive. Same in the military; the reason for different security clearances.

I'm not understanding what exactly it is they did wrong. I swear, I'm not being sarcastic. I GENUINELY (not sure I spelled that right)don't understand. Since they worked at the hospital doesn't that mean they have access to patients files? What was in there that the family was so worried about them seeing?

I see points on both sides. It does happen everyday. Had a nurse friend in Tucson; she told us when things were slow, they would go look at medical records, and this was in the 70's. It's not just hospitals either. While taking Police Science classes in AZ, I recieved 3 credit hours for working at the Sierra Vista PD on weekends for an 8 hour shift. One night when things were slow, the dispatcher took me to a file cabinet and showed me some gruesome photo's of murder scenes. I've got nothing to hide either as far as my medical history is concerned; but my SSN is on my records; so no one needs to be looking at them for that reason alone. I say let her sue 'em.

Maybe at UAMS the more that 3 people would have had a legimate reason to look at her records since UAMS is a training hospital. The people in question had no connection to her care or her case while she was in SVI so they had no business looking at her record. I'm not sure it is enough to sue on unless they used that information or shared it with none personell this violates the HIPPA Law.