HealthITSecurity reports:
Patient records from the New York Organ Donor Network are not liable to HIPAA regulations, according to a recent New York Supreme Court ruling.
A former network official claimed that four patients had not yet been declared legally dead before their organs were harvested, and had argued that the records in question were protected under HIPAA.
Plaintiff Patrick McMahon also claimed that he had been fired for being a whistleblower and stating that organs were being taken prematurely.
[…]
McMahon argued that the network was not a HIPAA covered entity and the four patients’ medical records should be turned over. The records “are material and necessary because plaintiff insists that each person showed signs of brain activity when their organs were harvested.”
The network reportedly acknowledged that it is not a HIPAA covered entity, but said it still must maintain patient confidentiality
Read more about the case on HealthITSecurity.