Former UCLA Hospital Employee Indicted For Selling Celebrity Patient Information

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Main Category: Medical Malpractice / Litigation
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Article Date: 30 Apr 2008 - 3:00 PDT

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In a case of "celebrity snooping", US prosecutors revealed yesterday, Tuesday 29th April, that a former worker at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) Medical Center was indicted on 9th April by a federal grand jury on the charge of "wrongful obtaining of individually identifiable health information for commercial advantage".

Lawanda Jackson, 49, who worked as an administrative specialist employed by UCLA Healthcare, was accused of having an agreement with a national media outlet to supply information from the medical records of celebrity patients in exchange for fees totalling at least 4,600 dollars.

The court document suggests the agreement ran between 2006 and May 2007 and that Jackson received the payments in the form of checks made out to her husband.

The indictment follows an investigation that revealed privacy breaches of records belonging to over 60 patients treated by UCLA healthcare, many of them celebrities like Britney Spears, California first lady Maria Shriver, and actress Farrah Fawcett.

While the court document does not reveal the media outlet that Jackson had the agreement with, a report in the LA Times earlier today said "a source familiar with the matter confirmed that the paper was the National Enquirer".

In a statement issued on their website, Dr David T Feinberg, chief exectuive officer and interim vice chancellor of the UCLA Hospital System, said:

"We are deeply troubled that a former employee may have illegally received payments from a news organization in exchange for providing personal medical information."

He said he and his organization welcomed the US attorney's investigation, and will fully cooperate with the prosecutors to reach a fair result as quickly as possible.

"Meanwhile, we continue to take steps to improve our staff training and information systems to further strengthen the confidentiality of patient records," added Feinberg.

If convicted, Jackson could spend up to 10 years in prison. Her arraignment is set for June 9th in a federal court in downtown Los Angeles, reported the LA Times.

A spokesman for the US attorney's office told the LA Times that they were continuing with further investigations and that more defendants may face presecution, including the media outlet involved in Jackson's case.

According to information revealed by the producer of a documentary on Farrah Fawcett's fight with cancer, the actress and her lawyers contacted Jackson and encouraged her to come forward.

UCLA started an investigation after Fawcett said she believed someone had given information from her medical records to the National Enquirer because in May 2007 it ran a story about the return of her cancer, before she had revealed it herself.

According to the LA Times, the US government has received about 34,000 complaints of privacy violations since the law was enforced five years ago, but prosecutions for breaching patient privacy are rare.

Earlier this month, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger of California, called for stronger legislation to protect privacy of patient information, after UCLA Medical Center revealed unauthorized breaches of dozens of medical records, including those of his wife, first lady Maria Shriver, and 32 other celebrities and politicians.

Schwarzenegger said was not just the UCLA Medical Center, "This kind of thing has been happening all over the state, wherever there are celebrities involved," he told the LA Times.

Sources: LA Times, Court Document (Central District of California), UCLA Hospital System.

Written by: Catharine Paddock, PhD
Copyright: Medical News Today
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