Golden State Today

California Attorney General Rob Bonta today announced a settlement with Adventist Health Hanford (Adventist) over violations of the Unfair Competition Law, the Confidentiality of Medical Information Act (CMIA), and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act’s Privacy Rule (HIPAA). The case involves unauthorized disclosures to law enforcement of medical information pertaining to two patients, Adora Perez and Chelsea Becker. Both women experienced stillbirths at Adventist and subsequently had their protected health information (PHI) shared with law enforcement without consent.

The disclosed medical details led to prosecutions for murder and subsequent incarcerations for both women. As part of the settlement, Adventist will pay $10,000 in civil penalties and adhere to injunctive terms aimed at protecting patient health data from wrongful disclosure.

“No woman should be penalized for the loss of her pregnancy,” stated Attorney General Bonta. “As we have said repeatedly, the wrongful imprisonments of both women due to unauthorized health disclosures to law enforcement were unlawful. That’s why today’s settlement ensures that Adventist’s patients’ personal health information is handled with the utmost care and in compliance with the law, which will restore and enhance patient confidence.”

In December 2017, Ms. Perez suffered a stillbirth at Adventist. Medical personnel provided unauthorized information regarding her labor, the fetus's condition, and alleged drug use to law enforcement without a warrant. This led to charges under California Penal Code section 187, resulting in Ms. Perez pleading guilty to manslaughter and receiving an 11-year prison sentence. Her conviction was vacated by Kings County Superior Court in March 2022 after she had spent four years in jail.

Similarly, in September 2019, Chelsea Becker also experienced a stillbirth at Adventist followed by unauthorized disclosure of her PHI to law enforcement. She was charged under California Penal Code section 187 but spent 16 months in jail before her case was dismissed.

On January 6, 2022, Attorney General Bonta issued a legal alert clarifying that Penal Code section 187 does not impose criminal liability on individuals carrying a fetus for causing miscarriage or stillbirth.

The investigation by the California Department of Justice found that Adventist failed to protect Ms. Perez's and Ms. Becker's personal health information adequately. The resulting settlement includes civil penalties and injunctive measures requiring robust training for medical personnel on handling patient information correctly.

Key requirements include revising PHI training materials and policies, reporting unauthorized disclosures within ten days, maintaining anonymous reporting hotlines for suspected mishandling of PHI, and mandatory annual training for all relevant personnel.

A copy of the complaint and judgment can be found here [link].