Single tweet by hospital employee to Mississippi governor allegedly violates HIPAA, forces her to resign

WLBT video embedded above.

From the local WLBT TV station:

"A tweet to Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour ended with a University Medical Center employee resigning from her job. Last Tuesday Governor Haley Barbour wrote this on his Twitter page, "Glad the Legislature recognizes our dire fiscal situation. Look forward to hearing their ideas on how to trim expenses."

Less than an hour later Jennifer Carter, a former administrative assistant for UMC's nursing school, tweeted this to Governor Barbour, "Schedule regular medical exams like everyone else instead of paying UMC employees over time to do it when clinics are usually closed."

Carter was referring to an incident she was told about by several UMC staffers three years ago. She claims the Governor came to the Pavilion on a Saturday when it is usually closed and had it specially staffed with 15-20 people all for a check up.

Carter doesn't believe her Tweet broke any privacy laws that protect patients. Attorney Terris Harris said just because the Governor is a public figure doesn't mean his health information can be public knowledge."

References:
Woman out of a job after sending tweet to Governor Barbour. WLBT, a Raycom Media Station.
Link via @EdBennett.

10 Easy Ways to Show Your Employees You Love Them - by Using Social Media. Mashable, 2011.