September 26, 2008
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Put on Your Lawyer Hat
I think Steve may have finally found his sugarlumpkins and told her that my number belongs to her now, too.
I got a voicemail yesterday afternoon from a Columbus health facility intended for “Megan” (even though my message says, “Hey, this is Natalia’s phone; leave a message; kbye”). According to the message, the results are in and Megan needs to come pick up her magnesium and Lyrica, presumably for fibromyalgia.
Is this a blatant violation of HIPAA?
Should I call the number and tell them they have the wrong number and that they’ve disclosed someone else’s medical information to someone who is clearly not the patient?
Comments (20)
It’s a pretty blatant medical info mishap. I would call them back and explain. They may have transposed a number or something similar.
It probably would be a good idea to call them and tell them that you’re not her.
I don’t know all the rules regarding HIPAA (I dealt with it some when I worked for Social Security Disability), but if that’s the number that she listed then they probably can’t get in any trouble. A lot of times people don’t have their own numbers, so they’ll leave the number of a friend or relative. But they also probably shouldn’t assume, either, and should be more careful . . .
uh…yes and yes.
You should call and inform then. Transposed or omitted numbers could really be a reason, but it sure is funny that they leave a message for “Megan” when it says Natalia in the voicemail
Do a new Voicemail record and say something like: “It’s Nataliaaaaaaa, if you were going to leave messages for someone else (especially Steve or Megan), you got a wrong number! Otherwise speak when it beeps!
hmm, could be spam, no? I get offered cruises and insurance and who knows what all day long.
I have a problem with an idiot who doesn’t know what his email address is and has given mine to various and sundry organizations. I’m constantly getting emails containing pay stubs, water table reports, a senator’s newsletter, and other weird things intended for “Bud” who is some sort of conservationist. Some of the stuff looked important, so in the beginning several years ago I replied to the emails informing the senders that they had the wrong address and they needed to get the correct one from Bud. It did no good. Now I just delete everything.
ppl are idiots. and on a related note i receive calls as well it is a miss deal and yet my voicemail clearly indicates who it is(n’t).
Yeah good idea to call them back…Maybe it was a case of transposed numbers and idiocracy on the guy’s part for not hearing “This is Natalia’s phone…”.
Um, I’d say to just call the number back, explain what happened, and if they ever call again, don’t answer. Unless the number comes up as “private” on your screen, of course…
If you have to answer, or if they keep leaving voice mails, ignore them from there on.
I smell a 70 million dollar lawsuit coming.
Oh yeah…
I am disappointed that your message doesn’t say “kthxbai”.
you need to change your phone number! although then you’d become less interesting by 2% because you wouldn’t have that as your bread and butter topic. ok, based on regularity, maybe not bread and butter… chickpeas and couscous.
I’d tell them…it sounds like an honest mistake, but if I were them I’d want to know that someone clearly isn’t paying attention when they leave messages.
@bob - Haha, that would be awesome.
Gimme da numba, I’ll make “em an offa dey can’t refuse….. MWAAAaaaaaa.
Wow, there’s no way that the person should have left a message like that even if she was sure it was really Megan’s phone.
So did you call back?
@sonnetjoy - nope, but if they call back I’ll let ‘em know that they should stop leaving messages for the wrong person.
I think it would be a good idea to call them, or wait until they call back, if they do, then explain.