Arnold Couldn't Protect His Medical Records, Can You?

Maria Shriver, Farrah Fawcett, and Britney Spears have more in common than being patients at UCLA Medical Center. They've all been recent victims of nosy hospital workers peeping through their medical records. Can it happen to you?

Yes, seeing as it even happened to "The Terminator," aka Arnold Schwarzenegger. “I have been a victim of this in my own hospital visits, if it was for heart surgery or hip surgery, shoulder surgery or all of those things,” Schwarzenegger recently told The Los Angeles Times.

To best guard your medical records and your privacy, it is important to understand what protections you have as a patient. Due to the personal nature of medical documents, the only person that should have access to your records is a medical worker providing treatment. That is why the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 is in place to protect medical records against improper “snooping.”

HIPAA protects against involuntary release of medical information, which could include what diseases a patient might have, any diagnosis of mental illness, and prescribed medications. Who might care? Employers, drug companies, or even identity thieves.

The HIPAA privacy rules apply to health care providers including doctors, clinics, hospitals, psychologists, chiropractors, nursing homes, pharmacies, dentists or even a health care clearing house. That’s a long list. What gets complicated is that there are certain groups that do not have to comply, including life insurers, law enforcement agencies and schools. For this reason, limit sharing medical records with the entities that are not be covered by law, if possible.