More sad and totally avoidable consequences from the Jussie Smollett hate crime hoax…
Dozens of employees at Northwestern Memorial Hospital have reportedly been fired after allegedly improperly reviewing the actor’s medical records.
Smollett was treated at the hospital on January 29 after he claimed to have been violently attacked by two men outside a Subway restaurant.
CBS Chicago reports:
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Sources said those workers have been terminated after gaining access to the “Empire” actor’s medical chart. Smollett has since been charged with staging the whole incident.
One of the nurses said it was a misunderstanding, and claimed she never even accessed Smollett’s chart, but she was fired last week and believes many other nurses and staffers were fired for the same reason.
The nurse said she was called in at the end of her shift last Tuesday, fired on the spot and escorted out of the hospital.
The nurse went on to say that she was never given a chance to explain herself and insists she never looked at the actor’s chart, she simply scrolled past his name in the hospital database while searching for another patient’s records.
She is now appealing her termination.
Honestly, hospital workers absolutely should not have been reviewing Smollett’s–or any patient’s–charts without permission. No if’s, and’s, or but’s. There are very clear laws about that sort of thing. (See the HIPPA Privacy Rule.)
At the same time, if Smollett hadn’t have lied about the attack and checked into the ER for self-inflicted injuries that he could then include in a bogus police report, none of this would have ever happened.
And if the nurse is telling the truth, and she really didn’t look at his chart, then she’s yet another innocent bystander in this whole mess.
When asked for comment, a spokesperson for Northwestern Memorial Hospital said it doesn’t comment on the their workers’ employment statuses.
Smollett is scheduled to appear in court March 14. Though he denies any involvement in the attack, producers have cut his role from the remaining episodes of Empire this season.
Related: Robin Roberts rips into Jussie Smollett for bogus interview, says he arrived two hours late to set
QueerTruth
Well that’s kinda comparing apples to oranges.
All hospitals employees sign confidentiality agreements. Part of which forbids employees from accessing anyone chart that is not under their care. This is healthcare 101. If they did access his chart, they should be fired. They are breaking the law.
Crystix
And considering you have to log in to view a chart, each of them signed their name on that smoking gun. Sucks when you blatantly do something to get yourself fired.
“I don’t know why my name says I accessed his chart! I only viewed it for a second!”
Jussie_Racist_Clown
No doubt about it, if they accessed his records, they should be fired. They’re lucky they are not being hit with fines for willfully violating HIPAA, the confidentiality agreement that all healthcare workers are required to comply with. But, why is the post (also) about how one worker may have been unfairly charged? That seems so completely off-topic.
ivanw222
I have no concern for Somllett, but I agree, anyone looking at his medical records without authorization deserves to be fired.
Daggerman
…what on earth is he playing at? He needs therapy, isn’t that obvious! Git!
Polaro
Not Jussie’s fault. They chose to violate the rules all on their own. Has nothing to do with Jussie possibly having made the whole thing up and being another horrible person in a world overrun with horrible, self-absorbed people.
AlexEf
The US work practices and laws are wild… It wouldn’t happened in many other countries.
Jussie_Racist_Clown
Which of those holier-than-thou sanctimonious countries are you referring to? In the US there is nothing “wild” about the law. It’s people with poor impulse control who continue to break US law. “It wouldn’t happen in many other countries”. I call bull on that statement. And, besides that, how TF would you know anyhow?
barkomatic
I’m not sure how the database is organized, but if she was just scrolling past a series of patient names which then required a click to access the chart–but didn’t access the chart itself–then she shouldn’t have been fired. If she was scrolling past actual patient charts and his came up then it’s likely that was intentional.
In most stories of this nature, there’s always an unnamed source inside a hospital or police department that illegally releases information — and I don’t have much sympathy for those people if they get caught.
Doug
Ridiculous. I’ve been a nurse for 30 years. She opened his medical record, and is now trying to cover her ass. No one gets fired for “scrolling” down a list of names.
arjuna52
I’ve worked in hospitals for years. It would clearly be seen whether an employee “scrolled through names” or actually opened the chart. There are no misunderstandings. One can even be terminated for opening their own chart. Yup. I’m sure the tabloids were offering good money to any employee at Northwestern who would share his chart with them. BTW: I worked at Northwestern for two years.
Kangol
Queerty, you don’t need apostrophes to make plurals. It’s no “ifs, ands or buts.”
Apostrophes are for all contractions (i.e., it’s = it is) and most possessives (i.e., Queerty’s posts) save its, his, theirs, etc. IJS.
CanadianGuy62
Why the apostrophes (note: it is not apostrophe’s) in ifs, ands, or buts? They’re plurals, not possessives. (Again, please note: it is not plural’s and possessive’s.)
Dwight
With him being a celebrity and in the news I’m sure the huge spike of the number of people accessing his records triggered a notification to them somewhere.
Toofie
Accessing a patient’s chart out of nosiness should get you fired. Clear violation. As for “scrolling past the name nurse”, it should show if she tried accessing the chart.
joey62
I´d think accessing a chart as a medical professional is one thing, leaking it something very different. Btw good luck replacing those medical professionals, over here in Germany we are totally understaffed in hospitals
crowebobby
How about “in the 1920’s and 30’s”? Serious question, not being a wise ass.