How can FBI solicit HIPAA violations - Bulger Girlfriend treatment info

[jdc]

How can the FBI offer a 2 million reward for information about medical treatment of Whitey Bulger’s girlfriend?

Medical staff in the US are barred from revealing any patient information, yet the FBI takes out an add in “Plastic Surgery News” asking “Have you treated this woman?” Possibly a practioner outside of the US and Canada would not be comitting a crime by revealing treatment information, but anybody in North America would be.

You would think that it would not be legal for the FBI to offer a reward for illegal activity. A general offer of a reward for information is one thing, asking medical staff to violate confidentiality is another. If you treat a felons girlfriend, are you released from patient confidentiality laws and can report the treatment to the FBI?

Or does it work like this, you report it, claim reward, get procecuted for HIPAA violation, but you argue that you were entrapped by the FBI ad and offer of reward.

[Ravenman]

I don’t know who Whitey Bulger is, but HIPPA allows for disclosure of medical records to law enforcement under various circumstances.

Link.

Law Enforcement Purposes. Covered entities may disclose protected health information to law enforcement officials for law enforcement purposes under the following six circumstances, and subject to specified conditions: (1) as required by law (including court orders, court-ordered warrants, subpoenas) and administrative requests; (2) to identify or locate a suspect, fugitive, material witness, or missing person; (3) in response to a law enforcement official’s request for information about a victim or suspected victim of a crime; (4) to alert law enforcement of a person’s death, if the covered entity suspects that criminal activity caused the death; (5) when a covered entity believes that protected health information is evidence of a crime that occurred on its premises; and (6) by a covered health care provider in a medical emergency not occurring on its premises, when necessary to inform law enforcement about the commission and nature of a crime, the location of the crime or crime victims, and the perpetrator of the crime.34

[Markxxx]

You can also offer immunity from prosecution.

[Saint_Cad]

@jdc

Medical staff in the US are barred from revealing any patient information, yet the FBI takes out an add in “Plastic Surgery News” asking “Have you treated this woman?” Possibly a practioner outside of the US and Canada would not be comitting a crime by revealing treatment information, but anybody in North America would be.

IANAHE (I am not a HIPPA expert) but I do know that like FERPA it is not don’t tell anyone anything ever again but rather tell only on a need-to-know basis. Are hosptials not allowed to report gunshot wounds and radiation poisonings anymore because of HIPPA? Do you see HIPPA as one doctor not being able to tell another doctor about a patient’s illness on a consult? Are you one of those that believe calling out a patients name in the waiting room is a violation of HIPPA? BTW: I know for a fact this last one isn’t true.

[bump]

@Saint_Cad

IANAHE (I am not a HIPPA expert) but I do know that like FERPA it is not don’t tell anyone anything ever again but rather tell only on a need-to-know basis. Are hosptials not allowed to report gunshot wounds and radiation poisonings anymore because of HIPPA? Do you see HIPPA as one doctor not being able to tell another doctor about a patient’s illness on a consult? Are you one of those that believe calling out a patients name in the waiting room is a violation of HIPPA? BTW: I know for a fact this last one isn’t true.

HIPAA’s more about not divulging privacy information that might identify an individual and their treatment; For example, a list of names isn’t a HIPAA violation, but a list of names and SSNs is. Or, a list of names & CPT codes would be as well.

[Nametag]

For those wondering, Whitey Bulger is an 80-year-old Irish-American gangster, wanted by Interpol and on the FBI “10 most wanted” list for racketeering, murder, conspiracy, etc. His girlfriend is Catherine Greig, who is believed to have had extensive cosmetic surgery in 1995. As pointed out above, HIPAA does not protect patient information from properly constituted law enforcement inquiries.