Hospital employees suspended for snooping on injured actor

A facility in New Jersey took the action after it found 27 workers in violation of HIPAA privacy provisions.

By Pamela Lewis Dolan, AMNews staff. Nov. 5, 2007.

George Clooney learned a few basics about treating accident victims while playing a physician on "ER." Then he got a crash course in HIPAA when he became an accident victim in real life.

Employees of the Palisades Medical Center in North Bergen, N.J., were suspended for a month without pay when the hospital discovered they had violated Clooney's privacy during his stay there. The star was treated at Palisades after his motorcycle collided with another vehicle on Sept. 21.

The hospital did not respond to repeated requests from AMNews for information on the suspensions. But reports indicated that Palisades investigated nearly 40 employees who were suspected of violating Clooney's privacy in ways that include snooping at his electronic medical files, peeking inside his room, and leaking information, including Clooney's emergency contact information, to the media.

Jeanne Otersen, director of Health Professionals and Allied Employees, which represents 700 Palisades employees, confirmed that 27 were suspended, seven of whom were union-represented nurses and clinical technicians.

Clooney, who had a broken rib, scrapes and bruises, said he did not know about the privacy breaches until he was contacted for comment when news broke of the suspensions.

"And while I very much believe in a patient's right to privacy, I would hope that this could be settled without suspending medical workers," said Clooney in a statement released by his publicist.

Health care attorneys said regardless of how forgiving the star might be, the hospital took the right course of action.