All Celebrity HIPAA Violations Since Enactment

Since HIPAA’s enactment in 1996, we’ve witnessed almost 20 reported cases of unauthorized personnel looking up the medical records of celebrities. This usually happens when a celebrity checks into the hospital, but that’s not always the case.

We’ve aggregated the ultimate list of reported celebrity HIPAA violations. The goal of this post is to help you prepare your staff just in case a celebrity checks into your healthcare facility.

1. Dr. Huping Zhou viewed
medical records of Drew
Barrymore, Arnold
Schwarzenegger, Tom Hanks,
and Leonardo DiCaprio when
he received his UCLA Health
Systems discharge notice.
Fawcett set up a sting operation
to find who had been leaking
information of her cancer
rediagnosis. UCLA Medical Center
employee, Lawanda Jackson, was
found to be leaking the
information for money.
27 hospital employees
accessed personal medical
information of Clooney and
his then-girlfriend, Sarah
Larson, when they were
treated for injuries from a
motorcycle accident.
Employees snooped in
her medical records after
she was in a psychiatric
ward for refusing to take
prescribed medication.
After being discharged, 20
hospital employees were fired
for violating Collier’s privacy
after he was shot and
critically wounded.
23 employees breached her
privacy when she gave birth
to octuplets. Many attribute
her claim to fame to this
HIPAA violation.
Unauthorized employees
accessed her electronic files
during her hospital stay after
she was brutally attacked
during a robbery at home.
At least half a dozen
unauthorized staff members
accessed his death certificate,
which was viewed over 300
times two weeks after his death.
UCLA Hospitals fined with
$865,000 for unauthorized
access to medical records
of Maria Shriver, Britney
Spears, and Farrah Fawcett.
Hospital employees accessed
her medical records while she
was being treated after a
mass shooting.
Five staff members accessed
her patient records after she
gave birth to her and Kanye
West’s daughter.
Employees inappropriately
accessed his medical
records when he was in
biocontainment for Ebola.
After treatment for a hand injury
from a fireworks accident, an
ESPN reporter tweeted details of
the incident including an image
of his medical record.
After Prince’s death, TMZ
reported that doctors gave him
treatment to counteract the
effects of an opiate. The story
itself is not a violation of HIPAA.
At least 50 employees fired
for improperly reviewing
medical records when
Smollett was admitted for
bruises and face lacerations.
CELEBRITY HIPAA
VIOLATIONS
UCLA Hospitals
July 2011
Michael Jackson
June 2010
Nadya Suleman
(Octomom)
May 2009
Richard Collier
November 2008
Britney Spears
March 2008
Anne Pressly
October 2009
Dr. Rick Sacra
September 2014
Kim Kardashian
July 2013
Rep. Gabrielle
Giffords
January 2011
Jussie Smollett
March 2019
Jason
Pierre-Paul
February 2016
George
Clooney
October 2007
Farrah Fawcett
May 2007
Prince
April 2016
?
Employee Fired
No Penalty - Unofficial BreachSuspension Without Pay
PrisonMonetary Fine
Penalty Key
UCLA Health
Systems
October 2003
?
The figure below shows the distribution of locations
where each celebrity HIPAA violation occurred.
This infographic is a compilation of all documented HIPAA
violations involving a celebrity since 1996.
10+ Celebrities
2-9 Celebrities
1 Celebrity