OT: The Jason Pierre Paul saga
This is probably old news for many on the boards, as it has been circulating since the weekend. On the 4th, it seems that Jason Pierre Paul was injured by a firework and received burns on his hands. Yesterday, a cell phone picture of his medical record was leaked on twitter which showed that he was having a surgery to amputate his right index finger. It’s being reported that a hospital employee took the image and sent it to a friend, who posted it on twitter. Because of this whole episode, the Giants rescinded a $60 million offer that they had given JPP.
So, since HIPAA (please don’t comment below saying HIPPA) law was clearly violated, I’m very interested in continuing to follow this. I work quite a bit with HIPAA law, and it’s just nauseating that a hospital employee could be that stupid and cavalier with medical data. He may end up in jail, and he deserves to. As for the hospital, HIPAA fines from the OCR have been in the multi-million dollar range. That is typically due to a high volume data breach. I’m curious to find if a civil suit could come up to that range based off of one person losing several million dollars in contract money.
Let me stop any arguments to the contrary before they are started. Even if JPP has an agreement in place with the NFL and waives his HIPAA rights, the nature of the data breach means that HIPAA law was broken. This wasn’t the NFL releasing the data, it was some slack jawed nurse, or IT guy, or facilities person.
ON TOP OF ALL THAT – JPP may face criminal charges because fireworks are illegal in Florida. The convolution runs deep in this story.
TLDR – Jason Pierre Paul blew off his finger with firework. He may face criminal charges, but only because a hospital employee broke the law first and released his medical issue. The Giants said “We good” and rescinded his offer. Now there is HIPAA blowback on ESPN and the hospital for letting this come to light. It’s only appropriate that this happened in Florida.
If what I just read in the NYT is right the Giants offer could have been rescinded regardless as soon as they found out he had a non-football related injury, so the employee's actions wouldn't have cost JPP anything.
That doesn't it wasn't a stupid and/or illegal thing to do.
fortunately never suffered permanent harm (2nd degree burns and hair burned away at worst) and I used to blow stuff up while in the US Army Artillery so I understand the allure of loud bangs and pyrotechnic displays.
I'll never forget the fireworks battles between the two frats located near the side and rear of South Quad. Bottle rockets shot back and forth from the windows and guys running around wearing motor cycle helmets holding roman candles and shooting them at each other.
I have been following this since the weekend and the story is infuriating as a fan. JPP is an idiot and I hope the Giants rescind the Franchise Tag offer sheet plus any long term deal they have on the table with him. I would be shocked and honsestly dissapointed in the organization if they let this guy play for them again.
The fact that he hasn't signed the Franchise tender makes him technically not a member of the team, but the fact that he didn't let the Giants officials and team doctor examine him in the hospital after they flew down to Florida. Him hiding all of this form the team is ridiculous and shows even further poor judgement on his part.
The interesting thing about the Schefter tweet is that reports are coming out this morning that it may have been JPP's own camp that leaked that medical chart, which would be absolutely crazy and make no sense if they leaked it after they didn't let the Giants look at him.
He also fractured a different finger and needed pins inserted, so there's another injury on that same hand that will need healing.
Source: Info on JPP's condition may have been released from his camp http://t.co/GEKmSOMvZt
— NY Daily News Sports (@NYDNSports) July 9, 2015
So you're gonna tell me that you don't have no black cats, no Roman Candles, or screaming mimis? Oh come on, man. You got no lady fingers, fuzz buttles, snicker bombs, church burners, finger blasters, gut busters, zippity do das, or crap flappers?
You're gonna stand there, ownin' a fireworks stand, and tell me you don't have no whistlin' bungholes, no spleen splitters, whisker biscuits, honkey lighters, hoosker doos, hoosker don'ts, cherry bombs, nipsy daisers, with or without the scooter stick, or one single whistlin' kitty chaser? - Jason Pierre Paul
The maximum fine the instituion will face for this particular violation of HIPAA law is $50,000, and that is the maximum. Since this is probably not a matter of Willful Neglect, but rather Reasonable Cause, it will be lower, unless they are repeat offenders who haven't addressed a known problem. And it is also possible they will face no fine at all if this is judged to be a case of a rogue employee who was properly trained in HIPAA procedures.
I don't know where the "millions" in fines reference comes from. The maximum under the law is $1.5 million per year for multiple violations, which was the case with the UCLA incidents.
Criminal charges only come into play for Willful Neglect, which could apply to the employee (assuming it was an employee).
If JPP wants to sue someone, I don't think he'd get far with the hospital, but he could with the employee, but what would he claim as damages? And what would he expect to get from what is probably a low-level employee pushing a gurney?
This is not a major HIPAA issue, individual data breaches happen and are addressed and occasionally fines are levied. It's just that his one is in the news because JPP is an idiot who probably cost himself millions.
I think the Giants will leave the 14.8M tender on the table, JPP will sign it, probably have a good year and then get a new contract. How many linemen on any given Sunday are playing with broken or sprained fingers? Probably a lot. He doesn't need to throw or catch the ball, he'll do some OT and learn how to grab a jersey with 4 fingers.
I'm a HIPAA attorney, and the one thing I would add is that people can bring suits under State law in some states, even though HIPAA has no private right of action. Courts are tending to find HIPAA a de-facto standard for negligence. The plaintiff, however, would need to show but-for causation, i.e., that if there was not disclosure, the bad thing wouldn't have happened. In this case, that money went out the door with his finger, and the HIPAA violation likely didn't add to the damages. Nonetheless, the hospital might settle any claims just to avoid the cost of litigation and put on a good public face.
P.S. The tendency in courts is to find that loss of personal information in security breaches is not compensable absent a showing of actual damages, so don't plan on getting a big payout if your information was lost in the Anthem/CHS/other security breach.
P.S.S. I think there should be a law that all fireworks stores must be named "Lefty's".
HIPPA. Don't tell me what to do.
The twitterati are SO DUMB!!! (yes, I'm just now figuring this out after years of passively avoiding twitter) People are actually arguing that it is, in fact, HIPPA, which apparently stands for Health Information Privacy Protection Act. Oy vey.
I mean. They have twitter right? So wouldn't they also have google?
JPP did not "blow the finger off" his hand, he suffered burns and nerve damage in the finger that if left to heal would have taken a very long time to get him back on the field. Instead, he opted for the Ronnie Lott approach and just had the finger (and therefore the problem) eliminated. I think the CB from Tampa Bay had his fingers blown off.
Perhaps this is a difference without a distinction, but nevertheless, the loss of JPP's finger was an intentional medical decision to amputate his finger to speed his recovery and return to football...his finger was not blown off.
Still stupid to play with fireworks. I guess my mom was right.
There was a guy last week....22 years old...put a fireworks mortar on his head, lit it....and blew his head clean off.