Did privacy laws get in the way of the Plaxico Burress case?

December 2, 2008

A major New York hospital is in trouble over its handling of the Plaxico Burress shooting case.

Did privacy laws get in the way of the Plaxico Burress case? The Giants wide receiver shot himself at a nightclub, then went to the New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell emergency department. Staff there said he was seen under an assumed name, and for some reason, did not report the shooting immediately to police.

Misinterpretation of the HIPAA privacy laws impeded the investigation, as “a hospital administrator initially declined to give information to the detectives from the 17th Precinct, citing federal privacy statutes.”

If this New York Post report is true (via GruntDoc), then the situation will get worse for the emergency staff who allegedly, “recognized Burress and agreed not to report the incident to police.”

topics: hipaa, police



Related posts:

  1. Could privacy laws and bureaucracy derail universal electronic health records?
  2. James Kim and privacy rules: Can HIPAA also lead to needless deaths?
  3. How HIPAA harms patients
  4. Celebrities and patient privacy
  5. Andrew Speaker: Were HIPAA laws broken?
  6. Patient safety versus privacy
  7. Excessive police force, as seen in the emergency room


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{ 1 comment }

1 Anonymous December 3, 2008 at 12:43 am

The laws in NY are very clear regarding gunshot wounds and have nothing to do with violating HIPAA regulations.

This was stupidity on the part of hospital administration.

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