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Ethical Issue Facing Health Care Cynthia Battle University Of Phoenix November 30, 2009 Health record breach violations are an ethical issue facing healthcare. In the article from the Journal of AHIMA titled “Reports Pour in under CA’s New Privacy Laws,” the writer Chris Dimick discusses record breach violations. Reports have been pouring into the California Department of Public Health since the state began requiring healthcare entities to report all incidents of unauthorized record access. ( Journal of AHIMA, 2009/07).
According to the article the law took effect January 1, 2009, that requires the healthcare entities in California to report all incidents of unauthorized record access. According to the California Law unauthorized access of patient’s records are to be reported. According to Kathleen Billingsley, RN, deputy director of the California Department of Public Health, Center for Health Care Quality (CDPH) 800 cases have been reported. (Journal of AHIMA, 2009/07). Healthcare professionals that perform unauthorized access to patient’s records are guilty of breach of patient’s confidentiality.
Technology is not 100% tamperproof which leave room for breach of patient confidentiality. If there is unauthorized access of the patient record, the perpetrators shall be detected and punished. The article discussed that reports of unintentional breaches such as an employee faxing a patient chart to the wrong Dr. Jones or facility employees snooping in a patients record (Journal of AHIMA, 2009/07). According to the Medical Device Daily 80% of healthcare organizations surveyed admitted to at least one incident of lost or stolen electronic health information in the past year and 4% had more than five patient data breaches (YOFFEE, LYNN_.
Medical Device Daily_, 10/26/2009, Vol. 13 Issue 206, p1-8, 2p). According to Ethics of Health Care congress provides both civil and criminal penalties for knowingly violating patient privacy (Edge and Groves, 2006 pg. 107). The ethical dilemma with unauthorized access of patient information by an employee can create a law suit against a facility for breach of patient confidentiality. In the article Chris Dimick talked about the 250,000fine against Kaiser Permanente for breach of patient confidentiality. This sent a strong message about the consequences of patient confidentiality and what can happen when onfidentiality is breached. In the article Chris Dimick stated the goal of the California Law is to protect patients and hold healthcare professionals responsible for protecting privacy. Reference YOFFEE, L. (2009). IT pros say poor EMR security puts patient privacy at risk. (Cover story). Medical Device Daily, 13(206), 1-8. Retrieved from Academic Search Complete database. November 30, 2009 http://journal. ahima. org/2009/07/07/cas-new-privacy-laws/ retrieved November 30, 2009 Ethics of Health Care: A Guide for Clinical Practice, 3e Raymond S. Edge, John Randall Groves, 2006, 1999, 1994, Thompson Delmar Learning.