|
medpundit |
||
 |
 |
|
Sunday, March 16, 2003Dr. Horn, who was the newspaper's corporate physician, claims in court documents that she was fired because she wouldn't comply with the company's requests to see confidential patient medical records. She also claims that a vice president for human resources told her to try to curtail the number of workers' compensation claims filed against the company by misinforming patients about whether their injuries were work-related. The requests violate the AMA's Principles of Medical Ethics. And the New York State Dept. of Health also advised Dr. Horn that following the requests would violate legal and ethical duties to patients under state rules, according to court documents. The court decision reveals even more about the Times’ management: According to Horn, on “frequent occasions” personnel in the Times' Labor Relations, Legal and Human Resources Departments directed her to provide them with confidential medical records of employees without the employees' consent or knowledge. She also claims that personnel in the Times' Human Resources Department instructed her to misinform employees whether their injuries and illnesses were work-related so as to curtail the number of workers' compensation claims filed against the newspaper. I realize that the management of a newspaper is completely different than the men and women who write the paper, but this sort of behavior doesn’t speak well of the paper’s publisher. And now, under the new HIPAA laws, it would be a federal crime to reveal those patient records without their consent. Shouldn’t it also be illegal to coerce someone to hand over those records without consent? And, though it may not be illegal, it certainly is unethical. Remember that the next time you read about Enron and other corporate malfeasance in the Times. posted by Sydney on 3/16/2003 12:43:00 PM 0 comments 0 Comments: |
|
