Akron hospital employees fired for snooping

Akron General Medical Center employees were fired recently for violating hospital and federal privacy rules involving the fatal shooting of a patient in the intensive care unit.

John H. Wise, 66, is accused of shooting and killing his wife, Barbara, at the hospital Aug. 4. She died the next day.

According to an article published by the Akron Beacon Journal, hospital spokesman Jim Gosky confirmed that “a small number” of hospital employees were terminated for accessing computerized patient records in the case even though they weren’t involved with the patient’s care.

Gosky declined to say how many workers lost their jobs so far in the ongoing investigation. He also would not specify their positions.

“We’re committed to patient privacy and have zero tolerance for patient privacy violations,” he said.

Employees are informed during orientation, seminars and annual training that federal privacy rules prohibit them from looking at patient files unless the information is needed to do their job, Gosky said. All violations result in termination. The recent violations were “isolated incidents,” and patient information was not shared by the employees with others, he said.