It’s being reported by The Smoking Gun today that a former employee of the UCLA Medical Center has been indicted for accessing the confidential medical records of various celebrities and attempting to sell them to what is being called “a national media outlet.”

Lawanda Jackson, 49, was charged with obtaining the information between 2006 and May 21, 2007, when she was terminated from her position as an administrative specialist at the Los Angeles hospital. According to the U.S. District Court indictment […] the media outlet paid Jackson at least $4600 for the information.

The media outlet is not identified in the Federal indictment, nor does it specify exactly which celebrities’ records were compromised. While Jackson defends her actions as being merely “nosy” and points to the fact that she did not sell information from the electronic files, if she is found guilty of the felony charge of illegally obtaining individually identifiable health information for commercial advantage she could receive up to 10 years in prison.

This story is a good reminder that not all breaches of privacy can occur in the private sector and even confidential medical files are at times compromised.

Bookmark It