Oakwood Hospital Worker Fired For Facebook Comments in HIPAA Violation

According to FOX 2 Detroit, a hospital employee, made two inflammatory remarks on their Facebook page regarding a patient. The employee had allegedly claimed to have encountered an individual she labeled as a "cop killer" and expressed a wish for them to "rot in hell". This following a police officer and an alleged bank robber being hospitalized after an exchange of gunfire.

After discovering the Facebook posts, their supervisors informed them that they would need to conduct an investigation. The employee quickly deleted the posts, believing that any consequences would likely be a reprimand or suspension. To their surprise, the hospital decided to terminate their employment due to breaching HIPAA data privacy regulations.

In a statement issued by Oakwood Hospital, it was emphasized that the hospital places a strong emphasis on patient privacy and mandates training for all staff on data security and privacy regulations and employees are explicitly instructed to maintain the confidentiality of patient information.

In this case, the termination of the employee's contract was deemed necessary due to a violation of HIPAA rules, even though the patient's name was not revealed the employee's role at the hospital, in conjunction with the patient's specifics shared, may potentially expose the patient's identity. Even without disclosing a name this is a breach of HIPAA privacy regulations.

Healthcare organizations must pay attention to this incident and make sure that their social media policies are current. Employees should be trained on data privacy rules and regulations, as well as informed about how these regulations apply to social media posts and other online activities.