JPP SUES SCHEFTER, ESPN OVER MEDICAL RECORDS
Sues both for tweeting medical files
JASON PIERRE-PAUL gave Adam Schefter and ESPN the finger in Florida state court Wednesday, filing a lawsuit that claims the sports network and its NFL reporter violated his privacy by posting medical records and photos of the Giants star’s mangled hand on Twitter.
The lawsuit also claims Schefter violated Florida law by sharing Pierre-Paul’s medical charts with his nearly 4 million Twitter followers on July 8, days after the NFL player damaged the index finger on his right hand during a July 4 fireworks accident.
The lawsuit, which is seeking more than $15,000 in damages, says Schefter “improperly obtained” Pierre-Paul’s medical records from Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami, where the defensive end was treated after the accident, and then cited them in a tweet that said Pierre-Paul’s finger had been amputated by doctors.
“Schefter improperly obtained Plaintiff’s medical records from a hospital and then, out of a selfish desire to ‘break news,’ electronically blasted the records to approximately 4 million Twitter followers and made it available to anyone worldwide with Internet access,” the suit claims.
The suit is similar to litigation filed last year in Florida court by former University of Miami pitching coach Lazaro Collazo, who claimed Alex Rodriguez violated his privacy and state law by publishing his Biogenesis medical records and supplying them to federal authorities.
The release of the medical records caused instant backlash among Pierre-Paul’s peers.
“I’m going on a hunch here but I’m pretty sure that those medical docs obtain by ESPn are a violation of some sort. Not the smartest but ...” tweeted Justin Tuck, Pierre-Paul’s former Giants teammate.
Other players were even stronger in their criticism.
“.@adamschefter You’re a real piece of sh*t for putting that picture up!” Steelers linebacker James Harrison had said.
Jackson Memorial took swift action, immediately launching an investigation. Hospitals are governed by HIPAA privacy laws, which require that they keep patient information confidential, unless they have the patient’s consent. Earlier this month, the hospital fired two employees for “inappropriately” gaining access to Pierre-Paul’s files.
Schefter would admit several days after Pierre-Paul’s surgery, in an interview with Sports Illustrated, that “in hindsight,” he “could have and should have done even more” to protect Pierre-Paul’s privacy. But in that same interview, he also made it clear that he had other priorities.
“In trying to be thorough and accurate, we delivered that news as soon as possible with the supporting proof if it happened,” he told SI. “To me, that’s doing my job.”