HIPAA Privacy – Respondeat Superior
Korntved v. Advanced Healthcare, S.C., No. 2004AP1604 (Wis. App. July 19, 2005)
A
lab technician for a multi-specialty clinic disclosed medical information
about a patient and her mother. The tech was the current wife of the patient's
father. The patient appealed a grant of summary judgment in which the trial
court found that the employee had acted outside of her scope of employment
and therefore the clinic could not be held liable for her actions. The Court
of Appeals of Wisconsin stated the test for determining if an employee acted
outside the scope of employment is whether the servant was motivated by an
intent to serve her master. Nothing in the record suggested that the employee
was attempting to serve or benefit the clinic by accessing and disclosing
the records. Her actions could only be detrimental to the clinic as it had
imposed strict confidentiality requirements regarding medical records access.
For that reason, the court concluded that the employee was acting outside
of the scope of her employment and the clinic could not be held liable for
the employee's actions.