Did a Jackson Memorial Employee Leak Info About Jason Pierre-Paul's Finger Amputation?

What happens at Jackson Memorial Hospital is supposed to stay at Jackson Memorial Hospital. It's Federal law. So how did ESPN scoop machine Adam Schefter manage to tweet NFL player Jason Pierre-Paul's medical records? That's what Jackson is now trying to find out. New York Giants defensive end Pierre-Paul, a...

By Kyle Munzenrieder

July 9, 2015

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What happens at Jackson Memorial Hospital is supposed to stay at Jackson Memorial Hospital — it's federal law. So how did ESPN scoop-machine Adam Schefter manage to tweet NFL player Jason Pierre-Paul's medical records? That's what Jackson is now trying to find out.

New York Giants defensive end Pierre-Paul, a Deerfield Beach native, was involved in a major fireworks-related accident over the weekend in Coral Springs. Reports suggest the footballer had obtained a U-Haul truck's worth of illegal fireworks and injured his hand while trying to set one off. He was originally taken to Broward Health North but later transferred to Jackson Memorial.

As Scheffer tweeted yesterday, Pierre-Paul ended up having to have his right index finger amputated.

ESPN obtained medical charts that show Giants DE Jason Pierre-Paul had right index finger amputated today. pic.twitter.com/VI5cbS1uCw
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) July 8, 2015

Scheffer, known for hurrying major sports scoops to Twitter, accompanied his tweet with a photo of Pierre-Paul's medical records. As a journalist, Schefter didn't break any laws by publishing the records, but whoever supplied them to him could have.

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) forbids anyone working at a hospital from sharing a patient's records, and now Jackson is aggressively trying to find out of if any of its employees violated the law.

"Late Wednesday, media reports surfaced purportedly showing a Jackson Memorial Hospital patient's protected health information, suggesting it was leaked by an employee. An aggressive internal investigation looking into these allegations is underway," Carlos A. Migoya, president and chief executive officer of Jackson Health System, said in a release, according to Local 10. "If these allegations prove to be true, I know the entire Jackson family will share my anguish.

"If we confirm Jackson employees or physicians violated a patient's legal right to privacy, they will be held accountable, up to and including possible termination," Migoya added. "We do not tolerate violations of this kind."

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