Woman says hospital leaked personal info to her alleged rapist, who then attacked her again

[Judi Lynn]

Source: NBC News


A federal lawsuit claims Atchison Hospital in Kansas and an x-ray technician violated privacy rights.

May 10, 2019, 5:56 PM CDT
By David K. Li

A woman filed suit against a Kansas hospital, claiming an employee there leaked her private health information to her alleged rapist — who then sexually assaulted her a second time.

The suit, filed in U.S. District Court on Wednesday and obtained by NBC News, targeted Atchison Hospital in northeastern Kansas and its former x-ray technician, Janet Rawson Enzbrenner.

The plaintiff, who is named in the lawsuit but will not be identified by NBC News, was sexually assaulted on May 26, 2017. She was taken to Atchison Hospital where a rape kit was administered, according to the civil complaint.

The woman said she disclosed the name of her alleged attacker to hospital staff.

Later, Enzbrenner "gained access to plaintiff's individually identifiable health information" and "contacted plaintiff's assailant and advised the man that plaintiff had accused him of sexual assault," according to the civil action filed by plaintiff's attorney, Trevor Wohlford.

Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/woman-says-hospital-leaked-personal-info-her-alleged-rapist-who-n1004451

[yaesu]

1. Should be criminal charges too, heads need to roll. nt

[iluvtennis]

6. +++ agree

[FakeNoose]

2. It's almost like this hospital employee is an accessory

What could she have possibly been thinking? Holy sheet!

[Mr. Evil]

3. Probably her brother or cousin or meth connection. Either way it's way stupid!

[More_Cowbell]

4. According to the story, the second rape was days after the hospital employee was fired

It seems like it was in retribution. What a terrible case.

[cannabis_flower]

5. Sounds like..

She came in and had the exam. The x-ray tech told the rapist. The rapist started to harass the woman and the woman called the hospital. Perhaps the man even told her that the x-ray tech told him, and she complained to the hospital and the x-ray tech was fire.

I looked up Atchison Hospital and it is in Atchison, Kansas and the population is a little more than 11,000. One of those places where everybody knows everybody else. I grew up in Victoria, Texas, I think we had about 60,000 when I was a kid. I never had sex when I was a teen because I was afraid to go to Planned Parenthood because I was afraid my mother would find out.

[lapfog_1]

16. ATSF Railroad

Now simply know at the Santa Fe (NM)...

Originally the Atchison, Topeka, and the Santa Fe Railroad.

My fathers side of my family has lived in and around Atchison for more than 100 years. Visited there many times in my childhood (mostly on memorial day to visit the graveyards).

[laurarks]

23. Whole Thing is Fishy

I actually live in Atchison and this story seems off to me. I have read through the legal documents currently available (and updated 12/31/19) and this tech and the hospital have asked for a jury trial. Why though? Did t the hospital admit Ms. Enzbrenner accessed the victim’s info without consent? Or are they claiming she didn’t tell the suspected rapist? I do want to say that I don’t know the tech but I do know the woman alleging these two rapes, and there’s a reason no one has been arrested and prosecuted for it 🙄🙄🙄🙄

[gopiscrap]

24. welcome to DU

[2naSalit]

13. Sure sounds like it.

What a mess.

[Collimator]

7. This is coming from my emotional brain. . .

. . . and not my logical one. Because I seriously doubt that this suggestion would pass the legal standard. Still, I think that the X-ray tech should be charged as an accessory to the second assault.

[Judi Lynn]

8. She shouldn't be able to go through this unscathed. Definitely needs to be "scathed."

What she did can only be seen as malicious. Seems right she should be seen as an accomplice to the rapists attack.

That woman must have been absolutely terrified, and she was handed the additional shock of realizing another person had betrayed her, obviously wished her ill and proceeded to do something about it.

Who would tell a rapist his victim had named him to authorities? Only someone who really hates people.

Also, who would want to talk to a rapist about anything? Good grief.

[Judi Lynn]

9. Longer article written by the Kansas City Star:

Kansas hospital worker gave info to woman’s rapist, then she was raped again, suit says
By Luke Nozicka The Kansas City Star (TNS) 11 hrs ago

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A hospital in northeast Kansas divulged intimate private details of a woman’s sexual assault evaluation and treatment to her rapist, according to a lawsuit filed Wednesday in federal court.

And months later, after a “barrage” of harassment, the woman was raped again by the same man, according to the suit.

The woman filed the lawsuit against Atchison Hospital and the X-ray technician accused of disclosing the patient’s information to her attacker.

The technician was fired by the hospital but was rehired at Saint Luke’s Cushing Hospital in Leavenworth County not long after, according to the petition.

More:
https://www.union-bulletin.com/news/national/kansas-hospital-worker-gave-info-to-woman-s-rapist-then/article_0b4f9ce4-f74d-5f0e-8816-c14a8f62f30e.html

[Lars39]

10. Wouldn't this also be a HIPAA violation?

[Roy Rolling]

11. Big Time

Beyond medical privacy concerns, obstruction of justice by sticking her nose into an ongoing criminal investigation at the very least.

I'm not a lawyer, but think the "WTF was the x-ray tech thinking?" statutes apply here, too.im no expert, though.

[2naSalit]

12. That's why it's a federal case...nt

[Haggis for Breakfast]

20. Y E S.

Yes, it IS a huge violation of the HIP Act. And Enzbrenner HAD to have known this. It has also been revealed that she, too, called the victim and harassed her as well.

[Stonepounder]

14. Believe me, I know a lot about HIPPA.

I was a programmer for a large medical software company when HIPPA was coming in. I wasn't directly involved in the actual programming, but it was a royal PITA to make all the major modifications and additions to the application to accommodate all new rules.

There was a case in LA where a celebrity checked into a hospital. A curious nurse heard the rumor that the celebrity was there and tried to verify and find out what room the celeb was in. You don't want to know how many heads rolled over that and the crisis team of programmers that were put on duty to make sure something like that never happened again. The company had to make a report to the Feds about the issue and how it was fixed.

This would be about as major a HIPPA violation as it is possible to have. This is a malicious violation of HIPPA and is a Federal Crime.

According to Google:

Criminal penalties range from misdemeanors to felonies. The maximum criminal penalty (a fine of up to $250,000 and imprisonment of up to 10 years) can be imposed if one of these offenses is committed “with intent to sell, transfer, or use [IIHI] for commercial advantage, personal gain, or malicious harm.”

Personally, if the allegations prove to be true, I hope the X-Ray Tech gets the max!

[Heddi]

19. If you know so much

then you'd know it's HIPAA, not HIPPA

[Haggis for Breakfast]

21. You can leave now.

[SunSeeker]

15. The x-ray tech should get jail for this.

And the rapist should never be allowed to walk free again.

[Bradical79]

17. It was over a year ago and no charges?

Wtf?

[Haggis for Breakfast]

22. Further digging into this on the internet,

there was an article that alluded that Enzbrenner and the rapist KNEW EACH OTHER, but did not specifically say how.

This is malicious behavior on so many levels it is sickening. WHAT business does an x-ray tech have looking into any patient's personal and private information without need or authorization in the first place ? She not only divulged the victim's stats to the rapist, she also revealed to him deeply personal medical history as well. Then she harassed the victim herself for months, until she was fired. Only to be rehired by another hospital, who has terminated her also.

The rapist began a deranged campaign of assaulting this woman all over again, with texts, phone calls and by mail. He sent her disgusting pornographic images as well as death threats. Then he raped her again.

It will come out sooner or later, and we will learn the connection between Enzbrenner and the rapist. But there is no doubt they were acquainted.

This will be a massive federal lawsuit. And it will have reverberations throughout the medical community nation-wide. As it should. This should NEVER happen to anyone.

If this had happened to any woman in my family, it would be hard to refrain from taking action.