California Attorney General and Adventist Health Agree to Settle HIPAA Lawsuit

The California Attorney General has agreed to a settlement with Adventist Health that resolves alleged violations of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Privacy Rule and Californiaโ€™s Confidentiality of Medical Information Act (CMIA) and Unfair Competition Law.

An investigation was launched in response to disclosures of patient information to law enforcement following stillbirths at Adventist Health Hanford. The first disclosure occurred in December 2017 when Adora Perez sought care at Adventist Health Hanford and had a stillbirth. Staff at the hospital were alleged to have disclosed information about the labor, the state of the fetus, and the patient’s alleged drug useย with law enforcement without a warrant.

Similarly, in September 2019, Chelsea Becker visited the hospital and had a stillbirth, and information about her labor and alleged drug use was shared with law enforcement. Both women were charged with murder under California Penal Code section 187. Perez pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was sentenced to 11 years in jail and spent 4 years in jail before her conviction was vacated by the Kings County Superior Court. Becker spent 16 months in jail before the trial court dismissed her case.

California Penal Code section 187 defines murder as โ€œthe unlawful killing of a human being, or a fetus, with malice aforethought,โ€ with โ€œor a fetusโ€ added in 1970 by the California Legislature to criminalize violence on a pregnant woman that resulted in the death of a fetus.ย Kings County district attorney, Keith Fagundes, sought murder charges against both women as their own actions were deemed to have resulted in the stillbirths. In January 2022, Attorney General Bonta issued a legal alert to all California district attorneys, police chiefs, and sheriffs explaining why โ€œfetusโ€ was added to the definition of murder to prevent section 187 from being used to punish women who suffered the loss of their pregnancy.

The alert explained that when individuals were faced with a murder charge, women may feel frightened or pressured into pleading guilty to a lesser charge of manslaughter to avoid a longer prison sentence. The legal alert was intended to prevent the initial charge of murder.ย California Penal Code section 187 has since been updated with an exception, which states that murder does not include โ€œan act or omission by the person pregnant with the fetus or was solicited, aided, abetted, or consented to by the person pregnant with the fetus.โ€

The investigation conducted by the California Department of Justice determined that Adventist Health Hanford failed to protect the personal health information of both patients. The case was settled with Adventist Health agreeing to pay a civil monetary penalty of $10,000, revise its PHI training materials and policies, provide annual training to individuals who handle PHI, maintain an anonymous reporting hotline, and report any unauthorized disclosures of PHI to the Attorney General within 10 days.

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Adventist Health disagreed with the allegations but chose to settle the lawsuit and paid a nominal fine to bring the litigation to an end. Adventist Health said no employee was found to have made any illegal disclosure of medical information and its policies and procedures for safeguarding patient information were found to be sufficient.

About Liam Johnson

Liam Johnson has produced articles about HIPAA for several years. He has extensive experience in healthcare privacy and security. With a deep understanding of the complex legal and regulatory landscape surrounding patient data protection, Liam has dedicated his career to helping organizations navigate the intricacies of HIPAA compliance. Liam focusses on the challenges faced by healthcare providers, insurance companies, and business associates in complying with HIPAA regulations. Liam has been published in leading healthcare publications, including The HIPAA Journal. Liam was appointed Editor-in-Chief of The HIPAA Guide in 2023. Contact Liam via LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/liamhipaa/