A Veteran Affairs hospital employee has been banned from accessing patient records after being accused of tweeting a patient's preoperative notes ahead of surgery.
In a now-deleted tweet, Carrie Christian, formerly Twitter user @CarrieeeeC, allegedly shared a photo of a patient's preoperative anesthesia note for a penile implant surgery.
A '72[-year-old] male gets government-funded surgery,' Christian tweeted Monday along with an eggplant emoji.
Without specifically naming Christian, Veterans Affairs press secretary Terrence Hayes confirmed to the Washington Post on Thursday that the tweet was sent by an administrative officer in the D.C. VA Medical Center's anesthesia department who has since been banned from accessing patient records.
He also confirmed that the department has launched an investigation into the incident.
'VA is aware of the incident and takes it very [seriously],' Hayes said.
'An investigation is underway and the employee has been removed from all access to Veteran medical records for the foreseeable future.'
Veterans Affairs press secretary Terrence Hayes confirmed that the employee responsible for the above tweet has since been banned from accessing patient records. He also confirmed that the department has launched an investigation into the incident
Carrie Christian (pictured) is accused of tweeting a patient's preoperative notes ahead of surgery. The D.C. VA Medical Center employee allegedly shared a photo of a patient's preoperative anesthesia note for a penile implant surgery
According to Hayes, the photo included in the tweet was of records 'for a Veteran who had surgery last week'.
Although the photo did not include the patient's name, personal medical information such as the veteran's heart rate, blood pressure, temperature and mental status were listed.
However, before her Twitter account was deleted, Christian did make a post claiming that the medical record she shared was something she found on the internet and not actual VA patient records.
records and personal health information are protected and considered private under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).
In a VA pamphlet on privacy obtained by the newspaper, the department claims that employees are trained annually on HIPAA and required to comply with its rules.
'Our employees know they must exercise care not to disclose information inadvertently,' the pamphlet reportedly reads.
It is unclear at this time if Christian will be fired for the alleged potential HIPAA violation.
According to the HIPAA Journal, all violations of HIPAA are considered a 'serious matter' and warrant an investigation.
However, some violation are more severe than others. Depending on the nature of the incident and the organization's policies, termination could be a possible outcome for violating HIPAA laws.
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