George Floyd’s medical records were breached multiple times by Minneapolis hospital workers: Lawyer
MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA: George Floyd’s medical records were accessed inappropriately by the workers of a hospital, where he was pronounced dead, the family's lawyer said. "There were multiple breaches by multiple people," Floyd family attorney Antonio Romanucci told KARE 11.
Romanucci said that they were informed about the alleged breaches through a letter sent by the Minneapolis hospital, Hennepin Healthcare. The letter said the unauthorized access to Floyd's records happened sometime in the last 30 days. Though the letter said that the staff members involved "no longer work at the organization”, it added the details, like the number of people involved, their roles at the hospital, and what was exactly accessed.
The lawyer has said that the family of the deceased Black man is thinking of suing the hospital. “They feel it's a continued assassination of George Floyd, his character. It's a non-stop issue. And they were very upset, very disturbed, disappointed that even in death, that George Floyd's character is being maligned by people that didn't have any business looking at his private medical record,” Romanucci added.
Hennepin Healthcare refused to comment specifically on the accusation but Christine Hill, a spokeswoman for the hospital, said, “Any breach of patient confidentiality is taken seriously and thoroughly investigated. If it is determined that a violation has occurred, disciplinary action up to and including termination can be used.”
Floyd was killed in police custody on May 25 when a Minneapolis officer, identified as Derek Chauvin, allegedly knelt on his neck for more than eight minutes. Later, Chauvin along with three other officers involved was charged with Floyd’s death. His death also sparked the recent Black Lives Matter protests demanding justice for Floyd as well as an end to police brutality and racial injustice. But the months-long protests did not appear to achieve its mission as in August another Black man Jacob Blake was shot multiple times in Kenosha, Wisconsin. The 29-year-old was hit with bullets in the back at least seven times while he tried to enter a vehicle. His kids were also inside the vehicle when the shooting happened.
Dispatch audio later revealed that Blake was shot less than three minutes after the police arrived at the scene. On August 23, Kenosha police officers arrived at the 2800 block of 40th Street after receiving a complaint of “family trouble” and within a few minutes, they fired at Blake. The man was left severely injured and was soon rushed to the Froedtert Hospital in Milwaukee, where his condition was said to be stable.
However, his family shared that he will need a "miracle" to walk again. "His family believes in miracles, but the medical diagnosis right now is that he is paralyzed and, because those bullets severed his spinal cord and shattered some of his vertebrae, it is going to take a miracle for Jacob Blake Jr to ever walk again," his lawyer Ben Crump said.
A more recent report stated that Blake in his first public statement after being injured has said that, “it hurts to breathe, it hurts to sleep, it hurts to move from side-to-side, it hurts to eat.” He added: “Please, I’m telling you, change your lives. Stick together, make some money, make everything easier for our people out there man because there’s so much time that’s been wasted.”