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Hospital staff tried to shame patients with VD

by on05 June 2014

You mean our staff can’t print patient data on Facebook?

A US hospital’s staff thought they were allowed to shame women by posting their visits to a clap clinic on Facebook. A Cincinnati woman has sued a hospital and two employees she said posted her name and medical records – including a diagnosis with a sexually transmitted disease – on Facebook.

Employees at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center posted the woman’s syphilis diagnosis, which included personal identifying information, on a page for the closed group “Team No Hoes.” The posting included derogatory comments about the woman, calling her a “hoe” and a “slut,” her attorney said.

Apparently this sort of thing is possible in the US where women are treated as second class citizens and are allowed to be raped by people who play football and can be expelled from proms if fathers of other kids find them attractive. Apparently the people who posted on Facebook were under the impression that women remained the property of their ex-boyfriends who are allowed to say what they like about them. It is an easy mistake to make, given the ambiguities of US law.

Attorney Mike Allen said that the woman’s most private of private medical information that was posted on Facebook and went out to a group with more than 2,200 members. The suit was filed against an employee named Ryan Rawls, an unnamed UC employee believed to be a nurse, and the woman’s ex-boyfriend, Raphael Bradley. Allen said Bradley convinced the hospital employees to release his client’s medical records, which he said violated state and federal law.

The suit asks UC Medical Center to examine its procedures to ensure similar breaches do not occur, and the woman is also seeking $25,000 in damages in a jury trial.

Last modified on 05 June 2014
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