Doctors Office Employee Tells Everyone About The Woman’s Pregnancy Without Her Consent, Drama Ensues

• By Malaika
• 5 months ago
• 5 minutes read

A HIPAA violation is extremely serious.

A HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) violation is a serious offence with serious consequences for healthcare providers and organisations. Protecting patient privacy and confidentiality is critical for maintaining trust and ethical standards in the healthcare industry. HIPAA violations can result in fines, legal action, and reputational damage. People may not think it is a big deal to share information about their patient with a friend, but you never know what might happen.

That is why doctor-patient confidentiality exists at all. There could be serious consequences if you tell their family about what is happening to them, especially if they do not want to. Healthcare professionals must always put their patient’s well-being and privacy first. Developing a strong, trusting relationship with patients is critical for providing quality care and maintaining a positive industry reputation. And this should apply to almost everyone in a hospital or clinic.

Scroll down to see one instance where a woman did not follow the rules.

Source: Reddit

Pregnancy can be very stressful.

Via Andre Furtado (not the actual photo)

A HIPPA violation should always be taken very seriously.

OP had just found out that she was pregnant, but she was surprised to see a friend of her mother on the reception desk of her OB’s clinic.

This surprised OP, as she didn’t want anyone to know that she was pregnant, and she knew that that receptionist still sort of kept in contact with her mother.

As it turns out, OP’s worries were correct, and the receptionist did tell OP’s mother.

It isn’t a huge deal as OP’s parents are very supportive of her, but she is ticketed at the reception and wants to report her for violating her privacy.

Via Reddit

This is why the OP is not on Reddit, asking whether she would be wrong for reporting the lady, as the situation could have become potentially dangerous.

OP is from the US, and after a hunch of comments where people were advising her to report the lady, she has decided to do so.

OP doesn’t want the representative to get fired; however, it is important that the clinic knows about her behaviour.

The story doesn’t end there, as we got an update where OP did eventually report the receptionist to her doctor.

OP is pretty sure that she won’t have any more information as it will probably become an internal matter at this point.

Via Reddit

I understand why the OP feels bad about reporting her mother’s friend, but I believe it was necessary. After all, while it may not have resulted in anything bad for the OP, it could have put others in danger. Not only that, but there is a reason why laws prohibit something like this. OP may not have wanted her parents to know, and that is her choice. It appears that the receptionist wanted to gossip, which is inappropriate. While I don’t want her to lose her job, I hope she learns her lesson.

Most people in the comments were on her side.

This could have had dangerous consequences.

I think privacy is taken seriously in most countries.

It is clear that the lady just wanted to gossip.

The doctor 100% needed to know.

Via Reddit

There were many ways this could have gone wrong.

OP is not at all in the wrong in this situation.

What if OP didn’t want to keep the baby? It could have ended horribly.

What she did was illegal, and she broke the law.

Making someone lose their job is horrendous, but sometimes it is necessary.

Via Reddit

What are your thoughts on this entire issue? Do you think the OP should have ignored the situation, or was she correct in reporting the woman? Has anything similar happened to you? If so, what did you do? Comment below to let us know, and don’t forget to share this story with your friends so they can add their thoughts as well.