Sharp Healthcare and Sharp Grossmont are both facing legal action from outraged patients alleging that they secretly recorded female patients during gynecological examinations. The plaintiffs are seeking compensation for videos that were taken without their consent and that showed them in exposed and/or compromised positions.
The lawsuit is primarily based around the infliction of emotional and psychological trauma these women sustained after learning that these videos had been taken. Specifically when the patients learned that both medical and non-medical staff were potentially able to view the videos without needing to provide any passwords, which the lawsuit claims as “gross negligence” on the hospital’s part.
More than 80 women have already come forward to join the suit. Attorney Allison Goddard offered a statement to the San Diego Union Tribune saying: “We will probably be adding another 50 plaintiffs this week or next.”
The entire debacle was set in motion when Sharp Grossmont Hospital installed 3 cameras, in 3 different rooms, as an internal investigation into theft of anesthesia drugs from drug carts. The motion-activated cameras were confirmed to have been running between July 17, 2012 and June 30, 2013. During that time, it is suspected that roughly 1,800 women may have been recorded without their knowledge or consent.
Many women like Dandi Simmons and Amanda Flores, who are both plaintiffs in the suit, have expressed feelings of anger, violation, and anxiety after receiving notice that their procedures had been filmed without knowing why or who might have seen them.
As if to add fuel to an already growing fire, Grossmont was unable to confirm whether all of the compromising videos were properly disposed of to avoid potential recovery. This alleged information mishandling is also a primary focus of the lawsuit since there was no apparent oversight, or meaningful security steps taken, when handling the recordings.
Unfortunately for Grossmont hospital, their attempt at thwarting a drug thief was nothing more than a wild goose chase since it was later discovered that the missing medications were the result of transfers by doctors to other parts of the hospital. Having a set of clear guidelines and security awareness standards could have helped Grossmont hospital to potentially avoid this embarrassing incident. For an extensive set of policies, procedures, training documents, and many more resources you can try a 7 Day, Risk-Free trial of our services at HIPAAgps.com.
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