Governor:‘I Have Been a Victim of This in My Own Hospital Visits’

By Anna Boyd
10:42, April 8th 2008
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Governor:‘I Have Been a Victim of This in My Own Hospital Visits’

Following 32 medical records being breached at UCLA Medical Center, including his wife’s, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said Monday morning that he had been a “victim” of this ruthless behavior himself.

According to the Los Angeles Times, the governor was told that people were very interested in his medical records in the past. There were “people going through your file that had white coats. Obviously, they snuck into the hospital. They had nothing to do with the hospital staff at all. So those things happen,” he said during a news conference in Sacramento, although he did not specify when or where these “things” happened.

Schwarzenegger said he called on his administration to take action against the UCLA Medical Center so these things would never happen. “A breach of any patient’s medical records is outrageous. Patients’ medical records should be private – period. No one should have to worry that an unauthorized person is reviewing their private medical records,” he said in a statement released after he and his wife were notified about the violations on Friday.

On Monday morning, the governor underlined the same idea of privacy. In California, the privacy of medical records is protected under the state and federal laws and the person who does such things risks her freedom or to pay fines or both.

“It is not just UCLA. This kind of thing has been happening all over the state, wherever there are celebrities involved…Everyone’s medical history ought to be protected. That is the responsibility of the hospital. So we are going to work with them and find a way,” Schwarzenegger said.

Following snooping in Maria Shriver’s medical records, Dr. David Feinberg, chief executive of the UCLA Hospital System apologized personally for the breaches on Sunday, naming the employee who did this as “rogue.” The woman, whose name was not released, was fired last year in May. “This person should not have been looking at those records,” he said.

According to state and local medical officials, the woman improperly looked at 61 patients’ medical records in 2006 and 2007. Britney Spears, Maria Shriver and actress Farrah Fawcett were among 32 celebrities, politicians and other well-known people, the Times reported. No other names were disclosed.

Unfortunately, violating someone’s privacy, exposes UCLA to state sanctions and amount to a major embarrassment for one of the nation’s preeminent medical centers.



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