Does HIPAA apply to journalists? ESPN reporter under fire for posting Jason Pierre-Paul's medical records: 7 key notes

Orthopedic Sports Medicine
Brandon Howard -

An ESPN reporter tweeted an image of New York Giants player Jason Pierre-Paul's medical charts, which is now creating debate over HIPAA laws and privacy, according to a CNN Money article.

Here are seven key notes:

 

1. The records released by the ESPN reporter Adam Schefter showed that Mr. Pierre-Paul had his finger hurt in a 4th of July firework incident and it had been amputated.

 

2. ESPN ran a story about the procedure, with a line reading, "Medical records show the procedure took place Wednesday afternoon."

 

3. ESPN said that HIPAA does not apply to news organizations, according to a statement quoted in CNN.

 

4. The person who leaked the photos to ESPN violated HIPAA.

 

5. Kelly McBride, media ethics expert at the Poynter Institute, told CNN that Mr. Schefter could still face legal investigation or civil suit if one of his sources was in violation of the law.

 

6. Arthur Caplan, the director of the medical ethics division at NYU's Langone Medical Center, told CNN that the records should not have been released without Mr. Pierre-Paul's explicit consent.

 

7. Public reaction from the comment section on CNN is varied from users saying that the reporter did nothing wrong, to others feeling the reporter violated the "spirit of the law."

 

 

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