A woman is left with questions after her OB-GYN’s office called her husband’s ex-wife to discuss pregnancy-related appointments.
In her clip, which went viral with over 3.7 million views, TikToker Maddy (@maddy.issues) says she believes the office may have committed a HIPAA violation.
“I’m gonna talk about it and see if I’m overreacting,” she says.
Maddy explains that the situation began the week prior, when she called the office to schedule her first pregnancy appointment. She says her call went to voicemail, but she wasn’t worried since the office wasn’t new to her.
“Keep in mind, this is important,” she says. “I’ve been here before. They know my name. My husband’s listed with his name, number. Everything’s there in my file.”
The next day, her husband also called the office to try to schedule the appointment. He was sent to voicemail as well. “So he leaves voicemails like, ‘Hey, my wife’s pregnant, and I need to schedule an appointment. Please call me back at this number,’” Maddy recounts.
Neither of them received a call back. Instead, Maddy says the office contacted someone else entirely.
“You’re not gonna believe who they called talking about my pregnancy to,” she says. “If you guessed his ex-wife, you’d be correct.”
Disturbed, she says the clinic attempted to schedule the appointment with her husband’s ex-wife without confirming her identity first.
Something Doesn’t Add Up
“My issue is they told her that she’s an emergency contact, and that’s how they got her number,” she says. “No, she’s not. She was an emergency contact on his old insurance.”
She adds that they now use a different insurance provider and that it has been years since that information would have been relevant. “Me and him have been married for almost two years,” she says. “We’ve been together longer than that.”
She also questions why they’d call an emergency contact to schedule a routine appointment in the first place. “Why are we calling an emergency contact to schedule an appointment?” Maddy asks. “That’s not how this works. It’s not an emergency. That’s not what they’re used for.”
She says the ex-wife clarified the situation to the office, explaining that she is not the current wife. “Thank god I don’t have issues with her,” Maddy adds. “Me and her get along great. This could have been way worse.”
Despite that, Maddy says the office still did not follow up with her or her husband. “They just made a horrible mistake,” she says. “They don’t call me.”
She notes that the situation surprised her, given the practice’s reputation. “This is a really good practice. It’s been in business for over 20 years,” she says. “It’s one of the most sought-after places where I live. It is incredible. Our first experience was amazing.”
Maddy says that now, her main concern is how easily sensitive information could have been shared. “You’re just giving out my information like it’s candy,” she says. “What if I had some lab results and you call her and tell her my lab results?”
While she says that wouldn’t personally bother her, she stresses the larger issue. “You can’t do [expletive] like that, right?”
Commenters Think It’s a Conspiracy
Viewers in the comments immediately jumped to more sinister explanations.
“Someone in that office KNOWS HER…” one user wrote.
“I work in admission” shared another. “They had to go out of their way to find her number, this was intentional.”
“Find a new office,” a third advised. “That’s wilddddddd.”
Maddy responded to the comment, sharing an update. “Girl- they just called back and basically screamed at me so yeah I’m not going back,” she wrote.
Is This a HIPAA Violation?
Only state and federal authorities can make this determination definitively, but the situation does sound like a common HIPAA violation.
Even if the disclosure was incidental, healthcare providers are required to safeguard Protected Health Information (PHI).
According to guidelines by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), medical professionals are expected to make a reasonable effort to verify the identity of the person to whom they are disclosing information.
While records can get mixed up and insurance providers sometimes work with multiple companies, which might explain how information traveled from one provider to the next, this doesn’t exempt the medical professionals from responsibility.
In this case, Maddy could file a HIPAA violation complaint directly with HHS if she chooses to pursue the matter.
@maddy.aubry Help idk what to do #hipaaviolation #hippa #obgyn #babymama #pregnant ♬ original sound – maddy.issues
The Mary Sue has reached out to Maddy via TikTok messages and the HHS via contact form for comment.
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