First federal HIPAA privacy conviction settled
Compliance Monitor, August 25, 2004
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The first HIPAA privacy conviction came down August 19 when Richard Gibson pleaded guilty in federal court in Washington to wrongful disclosure of protected health information (PHI).
Gibson, an employee at the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, said he disclosed a cancer patient's PHI to get four credit cards in the patient's name. He admitted he used the cards to rack up more than $9,000 in debt in the patient's name.
As part of the plea agreement, the government said Gibson should be sentenced to a term of 10-16 months-either in federal prison, or in a combination of federal prison and home or community confinement, according to a release from the U.S. attorney's office in Seattle.
At a hearing scheduled for November 5, U.S. District Court Judge Ricardo S. Martinez will determine whether to accept the plea agreement; if he accepts it, Martinez will have to determine Gibson's sentence within the 10-16 month range and the length of any supervised release following his prison term.
To read the release, click here.
To read Gibson's plea agreement, click here.
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