Sorry to hear that, monster, stay strong for the kids, but that doesn't mean brush it off by any means. You can help them grieve while you do, it's easier together, knowing you're not alone in your feelings.

very sorry monster.

So sorry to hear this, monster.

That's a horrible message to have to deliver to your kids. I am sorry.

That is terrible.







Much lower level: Pete took Lil G to try to get the passport process underway. Remind me to stop blanket defending postal workers.

Very sorry to hear that, monster. Terrible news.

Sorry Monster.

From Mum. She's referring to my fuck lymphoma card, which had an E-type Jag on the front, because that man does love his cars.

[abbreviated names for privacy]
* my asterisk.
From here (MacMillan cancer charity link)
Given the amount of time he has already been suffering, I have a bad feeling about this.

Found out last week that not one, but four staff got into my oncology records last winter multiple times over several weeks. Just for shits and giggles, apparently. Right around then all the daily death-wishing and hopes for maiming and other disasters started, and went on until the end of May when the staff of the practice we share space with got so disgusted they told me. They'd told my managers in April but nothing was done. I overheard a phone call to my nurse manager in the late winter in which she was being chastised, and she was highly nervous when she hung up; still, I didn't know details and never heard anything from the hospital. I forgot about it until it popped back into my head during a meeting with the CEO on Aug 14, and like a dummy I blurted out, "I think X got into my medical records!" He looked at me sideways and asked, "Have you filed a complaint?" I shook my head, still processing the memory (chemo brain), and he said heartily that the great thing was not to look back but to move forward.

So on getting home I moved forward by picking up the phone and requesting an audit. And now I know, except that it's much nastier than I ever imagined and makes me sick. The hospital covered it up too, and then blamed me for all the shite that happened after.

I am just drained. This has been the worst year ever.

Bloody hell, hon, what a total headfuck.

God's teeth, some people are just fucking weird. What goes through their brains? Baffling.



I was wondering how you were. Nice to see you - wish you weren't having to deal with this shit.

WTF... OK, there's a few layers of fucked up there. How do you even get your shit and giggles from looking at someone's tumor pics to began with? How does that become a giggle worthy moment?

I know, right? That's several steps beyond normal workplace douchebaggery.

How transparent. Move forward without the lawsuit part? Nuh-uh!! The stakes just got RAISED!!

Are these not at least four provable HIPAA violations, due to willful neglect and not corrected, each of which indicates between $50,000 and $1,500,000 in fines, and up to a year in jail for each offender?

http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/phys...orcement.page?

I don't even know what it is.

It feels like it's somewhere between evil and necktie. WTF is going on there? What's making them tick that way?

I realize the hypocrisy of saying this while condemning them for what they did to orthodoc, but I am having the strongest urge to play around and pick apart their brain matter.

There is no way to privately sue (directly) for a HIPAA violation. The government can pursue criminal charges against both covered entities and individuals if it decides that files were accessed for personal gain or with malicious intent ... I would say the latter applies in my case, and I hope the government agrees, but who knows. Maybe publicly wishing and hoping for my death every day for three months doesn't meet the test. Depending on how many times my records were accessed over that multi-week period, every time is a separate violation with its own penalty. Also, the failure to notify and correct carries fines for every day not corrected. After all these months, that's going to add up. So the hospital is going to be unhappy about that. The fines will probably be more than I would collect in a lawsuit.

A lawsuit would have to be for invasion of privacy and/or emotional distress, damage to reputation, etc. It is possible but it can't be related directly to the HIPAA violations.

With egregious HIPAA violations, some people have been criminally charged in recent years just for snooping, as a deterrent to the sort of thing that has happened to me. Jail time hasn't been huge - months, usually - but has occasionally been handed out, and often fines in the $thousands along with community service. I think it's appropriate. I don't think anyone wants to imagine people snickering over their surgeries or private medical information, or taking it into the front lobby of the clinic.

Right now I am just depressed. Everyone tells me to be angry but I just want to climb into bed and disappear.